This is a Battle not a Tango
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Sequel to "But What a Way to Go". Rogue and Gambit are "just friends", Logan's back in town and the Brotherhood is up to something.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Rogue placed her hands around him, one at the base of his neck, the other at the back of his helmet and pulled him close. She lifted her head, her lips meeting his. It only took a second of kissing before the draining began. She held on, his body growing slack beneath her, as his thoughts, memories and powers flowed into her.

She opened her eyes and pulled away, finally letting go. Avalanche collapsed at her feet as she lifted her hands to stop the tremors he'd started. Around her, Rogue's friends and fellow X-men were busy protecting the throngs of people. Pete was busy holding a wall in place while those inside the building scampered out. Bobby was making bridges over cracked pavement and filling holes with ice. Kitty and Jubilee were running around, trying to escort everyone to safety. Gambit, although technically not an X-men, but decided to come along for the ride, was also doing his part.

Half an hour later, the road was cleared enough for the police to get through. There they found Avalanche all nicely trussed up for them. The X-men had long gone.

"So Rogue," Kitty said conversationally once the Blackbird had re-entered the skies. "Is it _really_ necessary to kiss everyone to absorb them?"

"Necessary? No," Rogue replied cheerfully. "Fun? Absolutely!"

"I'm just waiting for the day we go up against a female opponent," Bobby said mischievously.

"Ya would."

"This is what I'm saying here, Rogue. It's -" Kitty began.

"Hot," Bobby interjected.

"Oh... why don't you just start dating her again, Bobby?"

"I'm trying but she just won't say yes," Bobby joked melodramatically.

"There's a reason for that," Rogue nodded.

"Oui, Rogue is far too much o' a lady to date yo' when she only be t'inking o' me instead," Gambit grinned.

"You're so full of it, swamp rat."

"It's okay chérie, yo' can admit it."

Rogue considered for a second, then grinned and said:

"Sure Ah can. Why, when Ah was kissin' Avalanche today, Ah was really wishin' he was you."

"See? I knew it. "

"Wasn't a very good kiss, mind ya," Rogue went on with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "Ya went all limp on me after only a second."

Gambit laughed.

* * *

Logan was there when the Blackbird arrived in the hanger and watched as the ramp lowered. The Professor was with him. Now _that_ was weird. That whole story about being alive still because he'd transferred his mind to the body of his identical twin brother whose mind he'd ravaged when they were in the womb striked him as being something you'd find in a soap opera. Or maybe a comic book. So convenient. That said, he was glad to see the Professor alive and well, although he did wish it had been Jean with the identical twin.

"Logan!" Rogue exclaimed, spotting him.

She ran down the last of the stairs and over to him, hugging him tightly.

"Hey kid," he greeted.

"You're back. Stayin' for long?"

"For awhile."

"Hey Logan," Bobby waved.

Logan looked up and noted the crew. Bobby, Jubilee, Pete, Kitty and someone who looked vaguely familiar...

"Mon dieu, Logan," Gambit said, staring at him. "Yo' haven't changed a bit."

Logan pointed a finger at him.

"I know you, don't I?"

"You needed directions t' Stryker's compound, and as I was the only one - at the time anyway - to have escaped, yo' came lookin' for me. So I go t' all the trouble of flying yo' over so yo' can hand Stryker and Victor's butts to them, and what happens? Mass destruction and yo' not remembering a t'ing yo' did t' cause it. Yo' probably know me as the first person yo' saw when yo' lost your memory. Thanks fo' not killing me, by the way."

"I'm sure you're welcome."

Rogue giggled.

"This is Gambit, or Remy LeBeau," she said.

"No uniform?" Logan observed.

"I'm not an X-man, mon ami," Gambit shrugged.

"The uniforms need work anyway," Logan dismissed and turned back to Rogue. "So, Marie? Or is it Rogue again now?"

"Rogue, and Ah'm sticking with Rogue too," she replied. "Marie D'Ancanto is a powerless girl with a human family that loves her. She doesn't exist any more."

"I'm guessing you tried reconciling with the family after all?"

"Father-dear barely spoke a word to me. Mama spent the whole time trying to be relaxed and happy that her daughter was back home, even though she was anything but. Then Ah found out about the Cure wearin' off..." Rogue shrugged. "Left before they could disown me again."

"The Professor was saying your powers were back."

"And back ta full force at that. The first few times, why Ah even managed ta avoid puttin' folks inta lengthy comas. So novel."

"Hey Logan," said Kitty. "Maybe you can talk some sense into her, and get her to stop kissing her opponents during battles to absorb them."

"Aww, c'mon," Rogue pulled a face. "It saves havin' ta take muh gloves off."

"Whatever works," Logan shrugged.

"Oh! You're just as bad as them," Kitty declared pointing at Bobby, Gambit and Pete.

"I'm telling you, female opponents," Bobby nodded.

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"In a fight, you use whatever advantage you can get," Logan observed. "But I'd suggest that if you ever do decide to absorb a female opponent, you don't kiss her. It might distract your boyfriend here from what he's supposed to be doing."

Kitty laughed at the downcast expression on Bobby's face.

"Oh, Bobby and Ah aren't datin' any more," Rogue corrected. "In fact, Ah'm just not datin', period."

Logan nodded slowly.

"Fair enough, kid."

* * *

Pete sighed as Gambit collected the poker chips.

"So glad we're not playing for real money here," he said. "We'd all be broke and then some."

Gambit chuckled while Kitty shuffled the cards for the next hand.

"Rogue, can't you absorb him and get his poker skills or something?" asked Bobby.

"Well, Ah could, but they wouldn't necessarily last very long, and Ah'll probably end up with graphic memories of last night's hot date for muh trouble. Some things Ah just don't need ta see."

"Besides," Gambit put in. "All my memories be from my perspective. Now the person Rogue should really absorb for details of last night is the femme I was with, no?"

"Ah repeat, some things Ah just don't need ta see."

Kitty began to deal the cards, shaking her head in disgust.

"Got room for another player?" Logan asked, joining the table.

"Here, you can have my seat, Logan," Pete said standing up. "I've had enough of losing for one night."

Farewells and greetings were said as Pete left the table and Logan joined it. Gambit tossed over some of his chips.

"Can't have yo' starting the game at too much o' a disadvantage, mon ami."

Were it not for the fact that Pete's supply of remaining chips was so pathetically small, Logan might have waved the chips away. But it was, and this only a friendly game anyway. So he grunted instead, and picked up his cards after Kitty finished dealing.

"Since when do you kids play poker anyway?" Logan asked.

"Oh about two days after Gambit arrived," said Bobby.

"Ya were lucky," Rogue nodded. "He didn't even last twenty-four hours before ropin' me inta a game."

"Yo' enjoyed it," Gambit grinned at her. "And speaking o' hot dates, chérie, how say, yo', me t'morrow night? I'm t'inking, dinner at dis nice French restaurant downtown."

Rogue shrugged as she threw in her chips and selected the cards she wanted to trade.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"I thought you said you weren't dating?" Logan asked.

"Well, not romantically datin' anyway. We'd just be going as friends."

"Very close friends," Gambit said, winking at her. "And I'm t'inking mebbe afterwards we'd go for dat moonlight swim, no?"

Rogue groaned.

"You're just not gonna give up on that, are ya, swamp rat?"

"You're the one who said 'mebbe' chérie."

"More fool me."

Gambit chuckled and Rogue poked her tongue out at him.

"I can t'ink o' much better uses for dat tongue."

"Yeah, so can Ah," Rogue replied batting her eyelids at him. "But they all involve ya endin' up in a coma."

Logan coughed.

"Dunno chére, mebbe it'll be worth it."

"Oh hell, would you two stop flirting already?" Kitty said in exasperation.

"Sexual tension," Bobby nodded.

Gambit snickered.

"Well, you'd know _all_ about that, wouldn't ya, Bobby?" Rogue said cynically, giving him a dark look.

"That's how I know the signs so well."

"I just don't even want to go there," Kitty said. "Okay, I know you think I'm crazy, but I have this thing about large age differences. It's creepy."

Rogue shrugged.

"If Ah ever get control over muh power, Ah don't think Ah'll care how old he is."

"Really? What if he was like -" Bobby began, and cut himself off when he saw the look on her face. "Uhh... umm... a member of the Brotherhood. Yeah that's what I was going to say."

"Uh huh."

"Which begs the question, if the only person you could have a physical relationship with was a member of the Brotherhood, who would you rather be with?"

"Ya have some serious issues, Bobby."

"It's your own fault for kissing Avalanche today," Kitty informed her. "He's been like this ever since."

"Really? Ah hadn't noticed," Rogue said dryly. "Ah think ya right about the whole distraction thing, Logan."

Logan snickered as he put in his bet.

"C'mon Rogue, inquiring minds want to know," Bobby nodded. "Mystique, right?"

"Would you get off the lesbian thing already? It's getting on muh nerves."

"But she could look like any guy you -"

"Bobby, Ah don't know where ya acquired this creepy streak of yours, but Ah really think ya should return it. Besides, didn't Mystique quit?"

"Details, details. What about... Magneto?" Bobby pressed.

"Eww, he's like, worse than Gambit," Kitty said, turning up her nose. "He's like, old enough to be her _grand_father."

Gambit shook his head in amusement.

"Yeah, Ah have Mags' memories and in addition to memories of the holocaust Ah also have ones of him havin' sex. From his perspective," Rogue nodded. "Now that's creepy."

"I wish you hadn't said that."

"Blame Bobby."

"I will. Bobby, shut up."

"What about Sabretooth? Would you do Sabretooth?"

"Bobby!"

"Ah thought we were here ta play poker, Bobby. Not give me the third degree," Rogue replied. "And no. Ah'm not attracted ta Sabretooth in the slightest. Besides, he'd probably play too rough for me."

"Ice, give it a rest already," Logan said.

"Pyro. You'd do Pyro, right?" Bobby asked, ignoring Logan.

"Bobby, sweetie, Ah also have memories of John jacking off in the bathroom to dirty magazines and oh wait... you did that too didn't ya?" Rogue considered. "Either way, major turn off."

Logan and Gambit snickered while Kitty turned up her nose in disgust and Bobby started seeing red.

"Okay, bad visual. Bad visual. Hey is that why you never slept together after you got the Cure?" Kitty asked.

"Ah didn't sleep with him, because a, Ah thought it was permanent, and b, Ah'm not so desperate for sex that Ah would just jump inta bed with _anyone_ first chance Ah get."

"Aww, I'm 'anyone' now am I?" Bobby complained.

"Yes, yes you are," Rogue said, putting in her bet.

"When did that happen?"

"Roughly about the same time Ah dumped ya."

"Ah ha! But that was after you got the Cure, so therefore I wasn't 'anyone' yet," Bobby nodded.

Rogue caught his eyes with an unimpressed expression on her face. Bobby was grinning at her right up until he saw the delighted smirk grow on her face.

"Ah think... if Ah could only have a physical relationship with a member of the Brotherhood, Ah'd pick... Toad."

"Toad?" Logan and Gambit repeated the same time Bobby said "What?" and Kitty said "Eww!"

"Yeah," Rogue said, putting on a wistful tone. "Ah mean, Ah know he's totally gross, and he'd got bad heart problems ever since Storm fried him, so he's probably got lousy stamina. But he does have this really long tongue..."

Bobby face took on an expression of horror, Logan snickered and Gambit cracked up laughing.

"That's so gross!" Kitty exclaimed. "Get out of my head. Bad pictures. Bad pictures."

"Oh, Ah have those all the time," Rogue grinned at her.

"Shut up, Rogue. Bobby, I hate you."

Gambit leaned over, grinning and ran his finger down Rogue's sleeve.

"So, you like _long_ things huh, chérie?"

"Gambit!" Kitty freaked out, clamping her hands over her ears.

Rogue laughed.

"I can see the conversation has really descended since I was last here," Logan commented.

"Naw, it's always been this bad. You just didn't normally hang out with us," Bobby nodded.

They revealed their cards for that hand and Kitty cheered in delight when she realised her full house had won.

"I won one! I'm shocked," she giggled as she retrieved her 'winnings'.

Rogue collected the cards and began shuffling.

"So, Gambit. Storm was telling me you've taken over defence training here," Logan said.

"Well, with three teachers down, Stormy really needed the help," Gambit nodded.

"And we all know about you and damsels in distress," Rogue teased.

"It usually gets good results," he said, grinning at her.

Rogue chuckled and began to deal the cards.

"Oh really?" Logan inquired.

"Dat's how I met Roguey. First I rescue her from her own misery -"

"Hey!"

"Den from a bunch of thugs."

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Den from sleeping in an alleyway somewhere."

"Ah was not going ta -"

"It was a busy night," Gambit finished as if she didn't say anything at all.

"Yeah well, at least Ah didn't get us kidnapped, robbed and involved in a gun fight on the highway."

"What's this?" asked Bobby, intrigued.

"Let's just say it involved switchin' drivers on a motorcycle goin' 70 miles an hour, whilst getting shot at by an on comin' car."

"We lived, no innocent bystanders got hurt," Gambit began.

"That we know about," Rogue interjected.

"And afterward I got t' enjoy the evening with a beautiful woman, so I'd say it was a good day."

"Really? What did you do while Gambit was on his hot date, Rogue?" Bobby joked.

"Ah pulled out your psyche and started lookin' for things ta blackmail ya with," Rogue deadpanned.

"Okay I'll be quiet now."

"Good boy."

"Is that your bike in the garage then?" Logan asked.

"Oui. O' course, Rogue said that yo' ride too?"

"Yep. And apparently you upgraded the security system?"

Gambit grinned at him as he tossed in his bet and exchanged a couple of cards.

"Had t'. The existing system was pathetic. I coulda got in, robbed yo' blind and made it out again dis side o' midnight."

"Takes a thief to catch a thief, eh, bub?"

"Yo' should see what I can do wit' a paper clip and a piece o' gum."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Logan arrived in the gym early the next morning to discover it was already in use by the resident Cajun. He watched for a minute or two while Gambit practised his acrobatics.

"Ahh Logan!" Gambit greeted whilst hanging upside down.

"Morning."

Gambit flipped off the bar, landed perfectly, then turned and grabbed his bottle of water from the floor.

"You do this often?"

"Everyday," Gambit shrugged. "I'm pretty much done, if yo' -"

"Yeah, I'm not a monkey, Gumbo."

Gambit chuckled before taking a swig of his water.

"Well, as much as I'd love t' stay and chat -"

"What's going on with you and Rogue?"

Gambit regarded the cool expression on the Wolverine's face.

"Partners in crime, mon ami."

"Crime?"

"Sure. I steal goods, she steals lives. Mebbe one day we'll put a heist t'gether. Should be fun."

"If you get her into any trouble -"

"Sometimes, mon ami, I t'ink she's more likely t' get _me_ int' trouble," Gambit cut in. "Yo' not gonna pull the protective father figure/older brother act on me are yo'?"

Logan snorted contemptuously.

"If you had been here the last time I was here, probably. But Rogue's changed a hell of a lot since I last saw her. She used to be this insecure kid, frightened of her own skin - literally. I go for a year and all of a sudden she's turned into this confident young woman. She could probably kick your ass without my help."

Gambit chuckled.

"Of dat, mon ami, I have no doubt. So long as she fought a subtler campaign than she does in the danger room, no? I'm not so easy t' catch, least not that way."

"Which reminds me. I noticed in the logs you two seem to spend a lot of night hours in there. Just what are you doing anyway?"

"Are yo' sure yo' want t' know the answer? Stormy doesn't want t' know."

"That depends. Will I have the urge to cut you into pieces so tiny that cremation will be redundant?"

Gambit grinned at him.

"How familiar are yo' wit' Stormy's past?"

"Not much."

"Stormy used t' be a pickpocket."

"Really?"

"Never was as good a t'ief as me though, and she's out o' practice these days besides."

"What's this got to do with you and Rogue in the danger room?"

Gambit was silent. Logan shook his head.

"Forget I asked."

* * *

Mrs Crag pursed her lips as she looked at the couple seated at one of the tables nearby in disgust and murmured to her husband. He glanced over, shrugged and said something intended to be placating, but Mrs Crag was not in the mood to be soothed.

When, however, the champagne came out and drinks were poured for both, Mrs Crag couldn't take this... this offensive sight any longer. Her husband attempted to dissuade her but to no avail. Mrs Crag got out of her seat, stormed over and wagged her finger at the older man.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she said rather loudly, intending to making a scene and be overheard. "You, a grown man and she barely more than a child. And you!"

She turned to the girl with the white streaks in her hair.

"You should be at home, not gallivanting around with a man old enough to be your father."

"Uhh," Rogue stammered and then said the first thing that came into her head. "He _is_ muh father."

Silence.

"Dat's right," Gambit put in quickly. "We were just celebrating Anna's acceptance int' Harvard."

"You... I... uhhh..." Mrs Crag stammered, her righteous anger defused.

"Ah take after muh mother," Rogue added.

Mrs Crag, now in a state of utter humiliation somehow managed to form an apology and hurried back to her seat. She didn't even dare look at her husband who was trying very, very hard not to show his amusement at her embarrassment.

Rogue and Gambit looked at each other and laughed.

"Mon dieu, did yo' see the look on her face?"

"Priceless," Rogue giggled. "Where'd the name Anna come from anyway?"

"First name t' pop int' my head. I can't believe yo' told her I was your father."

"Ah can't believe she had the audacity ta come over here and tell us off," her eyes twinkled with mischief. "Daddy."

Gambit shook his head.

"Rogue, unless yo' mean dat in the context of 'sugar daddy' -"

Rogue snorted with laughter.

"- I really don't want yo' ta call me dat."

"Aww, why not?"

"Chére..."

"Just teasin'. Ah wouldn't insult ya by puttin' ya in the same category as muh real Dad."

Gambit grunted.

"We should so totally _not_ tell Kitty about this. She'd have a fit. Wait... maybe we should," Rogue giggled.

"Dat girl is too easy t' stir."

"Ah know. It's awesome fun, huh?"

* * *

It was just after eleven that night when Gambit was in the pool back at the mansion, waiting for Rogue to show up. The air was cool but the water warm. There was also more artificial light than actual moonlight, but details, details.

"Wow, ya got here quick," Rogue said as she approached.

"Chére!" Gambit grinned, moving around in the pool to see her. "What, no bikini?"

Rogue snickered as she jumped her towel on one of the chairs and sat on the side of the pool.

"It's under the wet suit."

"Aww, chére..."

"How else did ya think Ah went swimmin' without riskin' absorbin' and drownin' everyone else in the pool?"

Gambit leaned on the pool wall next to her.

"Aww, but it's just us, Roguey."

Rogue pushed off the wall and into the pool.

"Forget it. If it were just me in the pool maybe -"

"Okay, I'll get out then."

Gambit started to lift himself out of the pool, but Rogue put her hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down again.

"Remy, get back in the pool," she told him. "C'mon, we've had a nice night. Don't spoil it by leerin' at me."

Gambit regarded her for a moment, then half shrugged and gave her a grin.

"D'accord," he conceded. "Although I want it on record dat dis is not what I had in mind."

"Perv."

"Hold out."

"Damn straight."

"Where on earth did yo' get a wetsuit that covers your hands and feet anyway?"

"Custom made."

"Suppose it would have t' be."

"Uh huh."

"Looks good on yo'."

"Why thank ya. Ah'm rather enjoyin' the view muhself," and before Gambit could take that as a compliment, Rogue continued: "In fact, that was why Ah took so long comin' out here. Ah was busy checkin' muhself out in the mirror."

Gambit laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Avalanche has escaped from jail," Storm said, walking into the office.

Professor Xavier and Logan looked up as Storm put the newspaper down on the desk.

"Broken out?" Logan asked.

"Got broken out. By the Brotherhood."

"Hmm," Logan grunted. "That lot have been just a little too quiet lately."

"I agree," said the Professor. "What with most, if not all, 'cured' mutants getting their powers back, there should have been something starting by now."

"Magneto did get multiple doses of the Cure. Maybe it's taking him longer to get his powers back."

"Possibly," Storm said. "You know him better, do you think he would act before he got all his powers back?"

"Perhaps, if the timing was urgent," the Professor considered as he looked at the newspaper. "But so far, this is the only nibble we've had. I wonder..."

"What?"

"I wonder if life as an ordinary human has changed his perspective at all. It could just be we're worried about nothing."

Logan snorted.

"I wouldn't count on it."

"No, I don't think I would either."

* * *

Gambit stood back while Rogue bent over to line up her shot on the pool table.

"Looks good from over here, chérie."

"Glad ta know ya enjoyin' the view," Rogue replied dryly.

Kitty looked from the television and rolled her eyes in disgust. They were all in the rec room, more or less just passing the time that evening.

"Who wouldn't?" Gambit asked.

Rogue smacked the cue ball and grinned as she straightened up, watching as the nine-ball fell nicely into the pocket. She turned and pointed a finger at Gambit.

"Ya stay right there," she said.

Gambit grinned back at her. Rogue didn't pay him any mind though, trying to decide on her next shot. The door to the rec room opened and Logan came in.

"What, no poker tonight?" he asked cynically.

"Naw, we all got tired of loosing to Gambit," Bobby joked.

"What can I say?" Gambit shrugged. "I am the best."

"And modest. And humble," Rogue said.

"Glad yo' noticed."

"Personally, I'm not convinced he doesn't cheat," Jubilee put in.

"Yo' wound me petite."

"Like you've never cheated."

"I never said that."

"Ah ha!"

"But really, once you've mastered the art o' cheating wit'out getting caught, there's no challenge in it. Now, playing and winning honestly. _There's_ the challenge," Gambit nodded.

"The scary thing is that I think I actually buy that," Jubilee sighed.

Pete chuckled.

"Oh Re-my," Rogue said in a sing-songy voice. "Black in the side pocket."

"What? Already?" Gambit asked, turning back to the table to watch.

Rogue chuckled dangerously, and hit the cue ball. As called the black sunk into the side pocket. Gambit shook his head as he approached her side.

"Mebbe next time we should bet on the outcome no? Yo' getting good enough it may even get interesting."

Rogue snorted, facing him.

"Right, like Ah'm really going ta be stupid enough ta gamble with you of all people. We start bettin' and you'll probably turn out ta be a shark or somethin'."

"Care t' find out fo' sure, chérie?"

"Not likely, swamp rat."

"River rat."

"Saloon boy."

"Tease."

"Snake charmer."

"Skunkhead."

"Ah hate you."

"Liar, liar," Gambit replied, reaching out and putting his hand on her behind. "Pants on fire."

Rogue's eyes widened as she felt the tingle of a bio-kinetic charge running down her pants, now glowing with a faint magenta light.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?"

Rogue pursed her lips as she looked up into his red-on-black eyes. His expression gave away nothing.

"Fine. Ah don't hate ya," she said, then wagged her finger at him. "Now de-charge muh pants ya two-bit, demon-eyed, low-life scoundrel!"

Gambit chuckled and took her hand with his free hand as he removed the charge from her pants.

"Whatever the lady wants, the lady gets," he said, kissing her hand.

"You're skating on thin ice there, Gumbo," Logan observed.

"Bobby resembles that remark," Gambit replied.

"Hey, keep me outta this," Bobby said.

"You're such a pervert, Gambit," Kitty said disgustedly. "First the blatant checking out, and now you're feeling her up. Dirty old man."

"Dirty I will grant yo'. Man, absolument," Gambit replied coolly. "But 'old' I take offence t'. I could wipe the floor wit' any one of yo' kids."

"Any _one_ of us?"

"All of yo'. At the same time."

"That sounds like a challenge to me, bub," Logan said smoothly. "How about danger room, nine, the five X-men verses the Cajun."

"Sure, why not? That'll waste a good ten minutes. Twenty if I decide t' dance wit' ma chére."

Gambit grinned at Rogue, who smirked back at him.

"Ya so full of it. Ah'm gonna look forward ta kickin' ya ass."

"I'm going t' look forward t' seeing yo' try," Gambit replied smoothly before turning to face Logan. "And den, perhaps, M'sieu Logan, yo' and I can waste the remaining forty minutes? I could do wit' a workout after my warm up."

"You're on. I look forward to wiping that smarmy smirk off your face."

As Logan spoke, Rogue moved back behind Gambit and considered. She lifted her leg and -

"Hey!" Gambit objected as her foot hit his butt and he lurched forward a couple of steps.

Kitty and Jubilee giggled.

"I told ya I'd kick your ass," Rogue said smugly.

"Ahh, Roguey, t'morrow we shall dance."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"It's not too late to back out, Cajun," Bobby said the following morning in the danger room.

"Why? Are yo' t'inking o' chickening out, Iceboy?" Gambit replied.

Rogue snickered and glanced up at the control room. Seems that word had gotten out and a number of the students were all gathering to watch. She hadn't seen the control room that crowded in awhile.

"That's Iceman," Bobby corrected.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's 'boy'."

"Remy?" said Storm's voice, coming over the speaker system. "Try not to cause any permanent injury."

Gambit turned and saluted towards the control room.

"As yo' wish, Stormy."

"And don't call me that."

Gambit chuckled.

"Hmph, it's _you_ she should be worried about," Jubilee declared confidently.

"Alright kids," said Logan, his eye on his watch as he leaned against the danger room wall. "Get ready, time starts... now."

Jubilee immediately shot out her fireworks towards Gambit. The lights went off in front of his eyes, the dazzling flash blinding him. Nevertheless, Gambit extended his staff and swung, not wildly, but precisely, knocking Jubilee's feet from under her. He would have gotten Kitty as well, but she went intangible at just the right time.

"Hey," Jubilee objected.

Gambit dodged Pete's blow from behind, whirled around, landed right behind Jubilee's head and placed his staff across her neck.

"Bang, you're dead," he said smugly.

He removed his staff, flipped backwards, somehow dodged the ice shafts that Bobby threw at him and countered Kitty and Rogue's attacks.

"Jubes, I thought you blinded him," Bobby complained.

"The firecracker is dead, Ice," Logan said before she could respond.

Jubliee, now sitting against the wall, crossed her arms and pouted.

Gambit let loose a flurry of charged cards. How he knew where Pete was, was anyone's guess. Pete's steel form protected him from the minor explosions, but was plenty to drive him backwards. Bobby moved towards him on his ice slide and as Gambit felt the icey cold slip by him, he reached out and charged the slide.

"Bobby get down!" Kitty shrieked at him.

Too late, the slide exploded. Ice shards went everywhere, and Bobby was high enough that he hit the ground hard. Although Kitty had been doing rather well dodging blows by going intangible, she didn't escape being hit. Pete survived just fine and Rogue managed to dodge the worst of the explosion.

"Bobby, Kitty, you're dead," Logan declared.

"Dammit," Bobby complained. "I was just getting started."

"Dead X-men tell no tales."

Bobby muttered unfavourably as he and Kitty (who was rubbing her side), walked off to the edge of the danger room to join Jubilee.

"Dis is turning out easier dan I thought," Gambit said smugly.

"Don't start getting cocky now, Gambit," Pete advised, closing in on him.

"Start?" Rogue smirked. "He never stopped."

Although the two both attacked at the same time from different directions, Gambit missed both blows easily. Rogue he swept to the side with a light blow from his staff, while Pete he dodged. Gambit knew he was good, but even he wasn't going to to try mano a mano with a guy who could turn himself into steel. A few minutes of this, and Pete was starting to get testy. On the bright side, Gambit's vision started to return.

"Would you just stay still?" Pete grumbled irritably.

"Now, why would I wanna do a t'ing like that, homme?"

Once Gambit decided that he'd suitably tired Pete out, he scampered behind him, and with a blow from his staff, supplemented by some exploding cards, knocked him into the wall.

"Bang, you're dead. And now, ma chérie," Gambit said, turning to Rogue. "It's just yo' and moi."

They circled, Rogue feeling a little irritated herself. She kept trying to get a blow in before, especially when she thought he was distracted or occupied with the others. And yet somehow, he kept managing to push her away. Worst of it was that she _knew_ he was just playing with her.

This time, however, it was Gambit who made the first move, and Rogue who started with the dodging. This went on for a couple of minutes before Rogue managed to slip in under his staff. Her body now pressed against his, she touched her gloved fingers to his lips.

"You're gone," she said.

"Sure about dat, chérie?" Gambit replied.

He took her hand, and before Rogue could respond, he kissed her. At first she was too startled to react, then confused as she realised that she _wasn't_ absorbing him, and her final thought before she felt the tingle of his bio-kinetic charge running through her uniform was "why do his lips feel funny?".

"Sorry, chérie," Gambit grinned at her, holding her at arm's length. "I'm afraid you're the one who's dead."

Rogue was too busy staring at him to care as he removed the charge, having made his point.

"How the hell did ya do that?" she demanded.

"Ahh. Latex lips," Gambit said smugly, moving his hand to his mouth to take them off. "Dey taste awful, by the way."

"You..."

"Yo' really need t' learn to vary your absorption methods, chérie. Otherwise you're just going t' be up against people who wear masks."

"So I'll go back to takin' off muh gloves."

Gambit chuckled, and swung his staff backwards, clashing with Logan's side.

"Thought yo' might catch me off guard, mon ami?" he asked.

"I have noticed that you're easily distracted by Rogue."

"Ahh, but what a beautiful distraction," Gambit replied, turning to face him.

Rogue snickered and joined her friends at the side.

"Your enemy isn't just going to stand by and wait while you're flirting with pretty woman, Gumbo."

"I sure hope not. It would rob me of the chance t' show off, no?"

Gambit's staff intercepted Logan's claws. Much to the Wolverine's surprise, the staff stayed intact, and Gambit grinned at him.

"Hope yo' don't mind, mon ami, but I took a page out of your book since last we met, and had a staff made out of adamantium. Cost a small fortune but it was worth every cent. Never breaks, doesn't need maintenance, never had to replace it."

"You talk too much when you're supposed to be fighting, Cajun."

"But no one is ever capable of holding down an intelligent conversation afterwards."

Everyone watched as the two fought. Ducking, weaving, striking. Gambit didn't bother going easy on him, knowing that his healing factor would compensate. Logan, on the other hand, didn't concern himself with going easy on him, as the thief scored high enough on the agility scale it was tough just trying to catch him.

In the end, however, Logan did in fact manage to catch Gambit. The claws in his left hand were extended, clashing with Gambit's staff. His right hand pressed into Gambit's back, his claws only extended slightly.

"You're dead."

"Sure about that, mon ami?" Gambit asked.

It was then that Logan noted the magenta glow, flowing from Gambit's staff and over his claws.

"Adamantium ain't organic, homme. I wonder how dis would end up?"

"You charge my skeleton, you'll only take yourself out as well, Gumbo."

"True," Gambit conceded, as he pulled back the charge. "But 'tis somet'ing t' bear in mind, no?"

Logan let Gambit go, and retracted his claws completely.

"Never knew yo' were the type t' stab a guy in the back," Gambit went on.

"Just wanted to make sure you felt comfortable with me."

"Aww, Logan, I'm blushing. Never knew yo' cared."

"Sure I do, Gumbo, about as much as I care about a pain in the ass."

"Sorry, but I just don't swing dat way."

"If you don't watch your mouth, you won't be swinging _any_ way."

"Yo' wouldn't deprive all those beautiful women out dere o' my handsome self, would yo' now?"

"I'd probably be doing them a favour."

"Perhaps, yo' may be right dere, homme. Dere's already enough competition wit'out adding any more players t' the tournament, no?"

"I'm surprised there's any room at the table with your ego."

"I just say it like it is, mon ami."

"Has anyone ever taught you the meaning of the word 'humble'?"

"Henri brought me a dictionary once wit' dat word all nicely highlighted. I suspect he was trying t' tell me somet'ing. Can't imagine what."

Logan shook his head.

"One day, Cajun. One day," and before Gambit could respond, Logan turned to the X-men. "Jubilee, good initiative on the fireworks. Pity Gumbo here knows how to blind-fight."

Gambit smirked.

"Damn," Jubilee muttered.

"So there you were, thinking you had the upper hand, and got arrogant and sloppy. He took you out in under thirty seconds. That was pathetic, even for your standards."

"Aww but -"

"Work on it, Jubes. Complaining isn't going to save your life. Kitty, good work there, especially on the phasing. Watch out for those ricochets in the future though."

"Okay."

"Bobby -"

"Hey, I didn't know he could charge ice!"

"He might not be able to charge you, Bobby, but ice, water, they're not organic. Additionally, he isn't the only one who can cut the ice from under you. If you're going to swoop around on your slides, you need to make sure you can survive a fall."

Bobby grumbled.

"Pete, good work for lasting as long as you did. Remember you're built for strength, not agility like dancing boy over here. Don't chase the fast guys, they'll just wear you out as Gumbo did today. Make them come to you."

Pete nodded.

"And speaking of dancing," Logan said, turning so he could see both Gambit and Rogue. "This is a battle, not a tango."

Rogue giggled.

"He could have taken you out completely at least two or three times that I noticed. The one on one was pretty good though. And he's right, you do need to vary your absorption tactics," Logan considered. "Of course, taking your glove off does ruin the element of surprise which is what kissing gives you. On the other hand, hands give you more range. Maybe we can come up with, I don't know, some automatic retractable gloves or something."

"Oooh Ah like that idea."

"And Gambit?"

"Oui?" Gambit inquired casually, spinning his staff around in his fingers.

"Stop going easy on her. She isn't going to improve if you play games."

"Ahh, but t'day it was a game."

"By the way, swamp rat, those latex lips of yours aren't going ta save ya next time," Rogue nodded. "Ah'll just kiss your cheek instead."

"Yeah?" Gambit asked. "Which one?"

Kitty opened her mouth to say something but Logan cut her off:

"Kitty, if the Cajun is a 'dirty old man', then I must be something far, far worse."

Kitty clamped her mouth shut.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Man, I can't believe he really did wipe the floor with us," Bobby complained later. "Five against one and he still creamed us."

"And who learns how to blind-flight anyway?" Jubilee grumbled.

"Remy did," Rogue grinned at her. "Oh and Ah think Logan knows how ta as well."

"I suppose that's what they're going to start teaching us next."

"Right after you figure out how to stay in the battle for longer than thirty seconds."

"Hey, that was a low blow."

"True though."

"Meh, I've had enough of rehashing this mornings disaster," Jubilee said, waving a hand in dismissal. "I'm going to do some Christmas shopping. Who's with me?"

"I will," said Kitty.

"Wait, ya mean ya'll haven't gotten your presents yet?" Rogue asked. "Do ya have any idea how crowded it's gonna be?"

"Crowds, no problem. I'll just phase through them to get what I want."

"I bet the Professor would love to hear you say that," Bobby snickered. "But I've done all my shopping."

"Yeah, so have Ah. Back in September," Rogue nodded. "Except the stuff Ah bought online."

"You did your Christmas shopping in _September_?" Jubilee asked incredulously.

"I really, really hate crowds."

"I'll go," said Pete.

"Yay, someone to carry the bags," Kitty joked.

"I need to buy a few presents on my own, Katya."

"Shh!"

"Just remember, Kitty-cat," Rogue grinned at her. "Petey really shouldn't turn inta steel while you're out shoppin' so try not ta overload him."

Kitty poked her tongue out at her, and she, Jubilee and Pete got up and left.

"So, just you and me huh?" Bobby grinned at her.

"Appears so. Pool?"

"You're on."

Three games of pool later, Rogue winning 2-1, an alarm sounded and they heard Professor Xavier's voice over the speaker system.

"Would the X-men please meet in the war room."

They looked at each other, reluctantly resigned the game (Bobby maintaining that he would have won if they hadn't been interrupted) and headed to the war room. They were met by the Professor, Storm, Logan and Gambit.

"Kitty, Jubilee and Pete went shoppin'," Rogue told them.

"Well," said the Professor. "We shouldn't need the whole team for this one anyway. Pyro's causing havoc."

He went on to indicate where in the area he was. Bobby punched one fist into his hand.

"Oh yes, rematch."

"This isn't personal, Bobby," the Professor said mildly.

"You gonna say that to Logan if Sabretooth shows up again?"

Logan grunted.

"Besides," Bobby went on, "I kicked his ass once, I can do it again."

"Whatever, we need to get moving. Those fires aren't going to put themselves out," Logan said.

* * *

"It's about time you bozos showed up," was Pyro's greeting as the X-men entered the scene.

Storm ignored him and immediately took to the air, calling on the winds and rain to put the fires out.

"Spoil sport," Pyro muttered, scampering under cover.

"John, this is a pleasant surprise," Bobby grinned at him as he approached in ice form. "How have you been?"

"Oh fine, thanks for asking, Bobby-baby," Pyro said cheerfully as he created a wall of fire around himself. "Hey, Rogue, I heard you've been doing the rounds. Town bicycle much?"

"Nah, Ah've just started a kissin' booth. Wanna be muh next customer?"

"You've already stolen my soul once, Rogue. I'm not inclined to sell it to you again."

"Shall Ah take that as a no, then? Aww, Johnny, Ah'm hurt. Anyone would think ya didn't like me."

"The name is Pyro," he said hotly.

"I think it's high time you cooled down," Bobby responded, shooting ice at him.

Ahh the beauty of Storm making it rain was the marvellous supply of water he was now equipped with. While this exchange was going on, Gambit and Logan were busy attending to those stuck in the numerous buildings Pyro had felt the need to start burning down.

Rogue began to circle Pyro as Bobby kept him busy, more or less. Pyro kept one eye on her even as he fought to keep Bobby back. They would have to have opposing powers didn't they? Abruptly, Pyro twisted, shooting a flame towards Rogue. Rogue dodged out of the way.

"I'm curious, John," Bobby said. "Why are you here causing mayhem on your own? Surely you knew we'd stop you."

"And how were you planning on containing me?" Pyro asked scornfully. "Tying me up like you did to Avalanche? The humans can't hold me, and neither can you."

Now behind Pyro, Rogue glanced up at Bobby, catching his eyes as she took off her gloves. Bobby didn't even acknowledge Rogue's look except to send a block of ice in her direction, neatly creating a bridge over the fire for her to cross.

"Hey hot stuff," she said, her hands sliding over Pyro's face.

Abruptly the ground started rocking, and both Rogue and Bobby fell to the ground. Avalanche waved cheekily to them.

"About time you got here," Pyro grumbled. "Later guys, it's been fun."

He stepped up and ran towards Avalanche. Bobby sent an ice blast in their general direction, but missed them.

* * *

"Almost had them, and they got away," Bobby grumbled once the team was back in the Blackbird. "Did you get anything from John, Rogue?"

Rogue shrugged.

"Not much really, Avalanche broke muh hold almost as soon as Ah'd made it. Mostly stuff about the fight and..." she frowned slightly. "Genosha?"

"Genosha? What's that?"

"Island country," Gambit said. "Dat all yo' got chérie?"

"Afraid so. Ah just got the name, not enough thoughts to figure out why it was on his mind."

"Well, if it's important, I'm sure we'll figure it out."

* * *

"Why would the Brotherhood be interested in Genosha?" Storm asked.

"Ahh, perhaps I may know," Professor Xavier said. "There are rumours that mutants are being used as slaves."

"Slaves?" Rogue repeated. "You're kiddin' right?"

"Slavery is alive and well in many parts of the world, Rogue," Gambit said grimly. "Don't see how it makes much of a difference whether dey be mutant or human."

"Still," the Professor went on. "It doesn't explain why Pyro was doing what he was doing."

"Maybe they aren't related at all," Logan suggested. "Maybe he was just thinking about what he'd like to do if he could get to Genosha. Don't know that I blame him."

"It's entirely possible," Rogue agreed. "Seriously, all Ah got about Genosha was that one word. No context at all, unless the fight with Bobby _was_ the context."

"Great, so now he's putting me in the same category as mutant slavers," Bobby said dryly.

"At this point they are only rumours," the Professor felt the need to say. "We have no proof at this point to substantiate the stories."

"Grain o' truth homme," Gambit said. "Grain o' truth."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show," said the striking brunette at the door.

"Apologies, chérie," Gambit said gallantly, kissing her hand. "Got held up at the office."

"Thought you stood me up."

"Never. Ready t' go, Katie-chérie?"

Kate cracked a smile and took his arm.

"I was ready half an hour ago."

"I said I was sorry. Come, I shall give yo' a wonderful, romantic evenin' so fantastic you'll have no choice but t' forget my tardiness."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Remy."

* * *

Rogue shot up in bed, gasping for breath as she shook. Her sheets were damp from sweat and she swore to herself.

It wasn't really unusual for her to have nightmares but it was unusual for them to be this bad, at least nowadays. The last time she had a particularly bad nightmare was when she and Gambit had been on their road trip, and that was months ago. Even then, she felt that this one was worse.

Rogue laid back down again, trying to calm herself down.

"It was only a dream," she told herself.

But that was a lie. It wasn't a dream, it was someone's memory. Something that really happened to one of the people in her head.

Rogue closed her eyes and promptly opened them again. She got out of bed and ran for the bathroom where she threw up. Shakily, she slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall, tears streaming down her face. Great, it was going to be one of _those_ nights. She was there for a few more minutes before the urge to throw up came on her again, and she lost the rest of her dinner. She flushed the toilet and rinsed the vile taste out of her mouth. Her eyes were still watery and she leaned on the basin, trying to steady herself.

Rogue was halfway down the hall before she realised she wasn't actually heading to her room, but to Gambit's. She hesitated before knocking on his door, but there was no answer.

"Why am Ah even here?" she muttered to himself.

Because he'd been there for her last time.

Rogue pressed her lips together, then tried the handle. To her surprise it was open, but as she peered inside she saw his bed was empty. Oh, right, he had a date that night. Rogue closed the door again and headed back to her own room, where she tried to get back to sleep. She'd hoped she'd be able to get through the rest of the night without vomiting again.

* * *

Logan looked up as Gambit entered the control room of the danger room.

"About time you got back."

Gambit chuckled as he took a seat.

"How they doing?"

"Not too bad. I'm thinking we could probably start upgrading them to level 5."

"Whose idea was it to create a simulation involving giant, mutant hunting robots anyway? I mean really, who would actually go to all the trouble of creating such a thing? The resources involved in such a project would surely be enormous and we all know how the government is about spending money."

Logan shrugged.

"I think the Sentinel program was Scott's invention."

"I never met Scott, but I feel the urge t' beat him up."

Logan chuckled.

"Say, where's Rogue?" Gambit asked, as he looked into the simulation. "Bobby I can see... and the firecracker. Kitty's over there with Pete, but I can't see Rogue."

"Oh she's..." Logan frowned, not seeing her either.

Simultaneously, they looked down at the computer to check where it believed she was and her medical readouts.

"Merde," Gambit hissed, and raced out of the room even as Logan shut the program down.

"What the -" Pete began as his swing failed to hit anything.

"Umm, okay," Kitty said, looking around.

"Oh, hell Rogue!" Jubilee exclaimed.

She got to Rogue's prone body just as the door to the danger room opened and Gambit came running in. Logan wasn't far behind.

"She's bleeding," Gambit said. "Head wound. What the hell happened? You're supposed t' be watching out fo' each other."

Logan reached out and touched Rogue's face with his hand. The absorption began almost immediately, and Rogue regained consciousness and pushed his hand off after only a few seconds. Logan grunted as he fell back and Rogue sat up, rubbing her head.

"Chére? Yo' okay?" Gambit asked, his arm around her back to support her.

"Umm, yeah, Ah think so," Rogue mumbled, then look at Logan. "Thanks, Logan."

"No problem, Stripes," Logan said sounding a little groggy as he stood up and glowered at her teammates. "And as for the rest of you -"

"No, Logan it was muh fault," Rogue cut in. "Muh reaction time's been off this mornin'."

"Rogue," Logan began sternly, then frowned at her, his tone downgrading to a gentler one. "Are you tired?"

"A little."

"Better get her to the medlab, Cajun. Fatigue isn't something my healing factor can take care of."

Gambit scooped her up and carried her out of the danger room as Logan gave the X-men a dressing down for their negligence.

"It's called a _danger_ room for a reason -"

* * *

"So?" Gambit asked Hank.

Hank waved his hand at him.

"She really is just tired," he told him. "Bad nightmare apparently, kept her up half the night."

"Oh one o' those."

"Yeah. The Professor's been trying to help her with that, but while she can contain the voices more or less during the day..." Hank shrugged.

"They manage t' escape at night?"

"Yes. Although, as I understand it, it's not as bad as it used to be. After Ellis Island she had nightmares this bad every night for a month."

"Sheesh."

"Well, I don't imagine we'd do too much better if we had memories of the holocaust or being experimented on or whatever else she may have picked up in there over the years."

"Probably not. She staying here, or shall I take her back t' her room?"

"Medically, there isn't really any reason to keep her here. Logan would have taken care of any injuries sustained in the danger room. She really just needs a couple of hours of sleep."

"I'll take her back t' her room then."

Hank nodded and Gambit entered the room where Rogue was dozing off on the bed.

"Hey chére."

"Hey."

"T'ink you'll be more comfortable in your own bed?"

Rogue smiled.

"Probably," she said as Gambit picked her up again. "Ya know, a gal could get used ta this."

"Y'know chére, if yo' were that tired, maybe yo' shouldn't have gone int' the danger room t'day."

Rogue yawned.

"Ah've done it before. Lots of coffee. Didn't really work this mornin' but then Ah'm not usually up until six either," she sighed and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Six? When did you wake up?"

"One."

"And when did you go to bed?"

"Eleven."

"Chére, two hours of sleep?"

"Three. Ah got up at seven."

"Yo' should have stayed in bed. I wonder yo' got up at all."

"Alarm clock."

"There's a snooze button for a reason, chérie."

"Logan gets annoyed if ya miss trainin' sessions."

"I t'ink he would have been more annoyed if yo' got killed."

Rogue sighed sleepily as Gambit deposited her on her bed. He took her shoes off and pulled the covers over her.

"Have a good sleep, chérie."

"Mmm Remy?"

"Oui?"

"Stay with me? Just... just for a little while..."

* * *

The faint knock on the door was the only warning Gambit had to put down Rogue's book before the door opened and Jubilee poked her head in.

"Rogue - oh, Remy, you're in here?"

"What was your first clue?"

Jubilee chuckled softly. Rogue's head was on Gambit's lap, one of her arms curled around his leg.

"You appeared to be have been adopted."

"It would seem so."

"So cute."

"Did yo' want somet'ing, petite?"

"I just came to see if Rogue was awake. It's kinda lunch time so..." Jubilee was now grinning like an idiot.

"I t'ink she's going t' be asleep fo' awhile yet."

"Okay..." she giggled. "I think I need to come back with a camera."

Gambit reached into his pocket, pulled out one of his playing cards and charged it.

"Don't make me throw dis at yo'."

Jubilee giggled and shut the door behind her as she left. Gambit sighed, decharging his card and putting it away. He probably should have left ages ago, but he hadn't wanted to disturb her. On the flip side, sitting around while someone slept on you was fairly boring, which was why he'd picked up the book Rogue had left on her bedside table.

It was a romance novel. A trashy, explicit romance novel. And it was lame to boot. He couldn't believe Rogue read these things.

Heck, he couldn't believe _he_ was reading it.

And of course, Jubilee had to show up before Rogue woke up, didn't she? The gossip queen would probably tell everyone exactly what she saw in exaggerated detail the moment she got back to the dining room.

This could only end badly.

* * *

Rogue stirred and opened her eyes. Huh, she appeared to be on someone's lap. She closed her eyes again.

Wait...

Rogue opened her eyes again and started to sit up.

"Ahh, chére, you're awake."

"Remy? What... what are you doing here?"

And why had she been using his lap for a pillow?

"Uhh, yo' asked me t' stay."

"Ah did?" Rogue frowned. "Oh, Ah think Ah remember that."

"Do yo' also remember almost getting yourself killed in the danger room?"

Rogue paused.

"Ah absorbed Logan?"

"Oui."

"Okay, that explains the weird dream."

"I'm t'inking yo' dream too much, chére."

"No, the dreams are okay. It's the nightmares Ah have a problem with. Have ya been readin' muh book?" she asked in surprise, seeing it in his hand.

Well, that was embarrassing. Now he knew she read smut.

Gambit shrugged, closing it and putting it back on the side table.

"I was bored."

"Ya didn't have ta stay."

"Didn't want t' disturb yo'. Figured yo' had been disturbed enough fo' one day."

"Well, uhh, it was very good of ya. Ah hope Ah didn't put ya out."

"Aww, chére, what possible cause could I have t' complain about having a femme's head in my lap?" Gambit asked with a slight smirk.

"What? Ya didn't get enough of that last night?" Rogue retorted hotly.

"There are some t'ings yo' can never get enough o'."

"What time did ya get back anyway?"

"After nine this morning. Oh, by the way Jubes popped in earlier about lunch. She said we were 'cute' and threatened t' come back wit' a camera."

"Okay well, now that the whole school knows..."

"Thought you'd appreciate the warning."

"Meh. Well, Ah suppose Ah have ta go back out there sometime."

"Yeah... Say Rogue?"

"Mmm?"

"Wanna see if we can't get the upper hand?"

"What do ya mean?"

"Well, the Firecracker's had at least an hour t' exaggerate and otherwise blow dis whole t'ing outta proportion..."

A smile crossed Rogue's face.

"What did ya have in mind?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

As Rogue walked to the kitchen to pick up a late lunch she pretended to ignore the funny looks everyone gave her. Gambit had left her bedroom a few minutes before and was probably in the rec room by now. She grabbed what she wanted, then made her way to the rec room herself. It was reasonably crowded, given the time of day, and Rogue joined her friends in front of the TV.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey Rogue. So how's -" Jubilee began mischievously before her eyes widened in shock as she looked at her.

"How's what?" Rogue asked.

"Uhh, Rogue?" said Bobby. "Have you seen your face?"

"Not recently, why?"

Kitty fished out her compact while Pete was making a closer inspection.

"You can do that?" he asked sounding stunned.

"Do what?" Rogue asked, accepting Kitty's compact.

Pete looked towards Gambit, who was watching from the other side of the room and not bothering to hide his smirk. Storm, with whom he was sitting, noticed his inattention and looked over her shoulder to find out what he had distracted him.

Rogue lifted the mirror to see her reflection. The word "SKUNKHEAD" was boldly written across her forehead. There was a picture of an ace of spades on her left cheek and a drawing of a French moustache in the appropriate place. But what really shocked her was what Gambit had written on her right cheek. She knew he had written something, of course, but he hadn't told her what, and now her face was burning bright red as she recognised one of the sentences from her book. She dropped the compact in genuine shock and stood up, pointing her finger at Gambit.

"You... you... you two-bit, pea-brained, low-life, demon-eyed, heinous little scoundrel! How dare ya write on muh face!"

Gambit's smirk grew broader (if that was even possible) as he attempted to keep from laughing out loud at her outburst.

"I was bored, chérie. Usually when femmes have their face in my lap, I'm not wearing pants."

"So ya thought you'd _write_ on muh _face_?" Rogue said angrily as she stalked over to him.

"Dere was dis pen nearby..."

"And what the hell is this about," Rogue demanded, pointing to her right cheek.

"Ahh, dat would be what I'd love t' do t' yo', if only I could touch your skin."

Pete just about choked on his own saliva, while Rogue's face went even redder. If _that_ was even possible.

"How would ya like it if Ah drew on your face?" Rogue asked, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him out of his chair.

Gambit reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the pen he'd used earlier. His trench coat was draped over the back of the chair.

"Go right ahead," he said daringly.

It was at that point that Rogue felt inspired. The original plan had been for her to draw on his face, but with her hands still on the collar of his dress shirt, another idea came to mind. She turned her hands so that her fingers went in under his shirt and pulled it open. Gambit's eyebrows raised.

"Uhh..."

Rogue ignored him and pulled off his shirt completely, tossing it behind her before pushing him back onto the chair. She stood back deliberately running her eyes over him to admire the view, both for real and for show. Gambit could only stare back at her.

"Yes," she said finally. "This is a much better canvas."

"Rogue?"

Rogue climbed onto his lap, straddling him and took the pen from his stunned fingers.

"Silence Canvas! An Artiste is at work."

As Rogue started to draw on his chest, Storm caught his eyes and tried vainly to hide her smile and stifle her laughter. Gambit's face started to give way to his usual grin. Well, he sure hadn't excepted Rogue to do anything like this - ever - but hey, if she was going to improvise, so would he. Thus he began slowly trailing his hands up and down her legs and smirked a little as he noticed from her body language that she definitely liked it.

"There!" Rogue said jubilantly.

She scooted off his lap and moved back far enough to grab his shirt off the floor. While she tied it around her waist, Storm, and everyone else who could see what Rogue had drawn, started laughing and snickering. Gambit looked down to see the words "I'M WITH STUPID" with an arrow pointing down to his nether regions.

"Rogue!" he objected, standing up again.

This of course, only improved the view for everyone else in the room. Rogue grinned broadly at him and did a little hip wiggle.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?"

"Come here yo'," he said, moving towards her.

Rogue scampered backwards out of the way, then dashed around the pool table. Gambit approached from the other side, and they circled around it for a bit before he managed to grab her wrist. Rogue immediately put her hand around his wrist, attempting to loosen his hold by applying pressure to his pressure points like they had been taught. It worked, but not before Gambit was able to pin her up against the wall with his body and his free hand.

"Got yo'," Gambit said, his voice low.

"It would appear so."

He leaned in towards her, slowly, enough time for her to place her hand over her mouth as they'd planned (at least some of the original scheme remained). He kissed her hand then went further, kissing up her arm. Rogue moved that hand to his shoulder as he continued to kiss it. Gambit's hands were on her waist, one massaging her hip, the other discreetly untying his shirt, under the guise of playing with hers. Rogue became brave enough to place her free hand on his chest. Although why she would need the courage to do this now, when she was just writing on his chest only a minute ago, she had no idea.

Actually in one way Rogue was a little annoyed about this. Mostly because she was enjoying it way too much, and in addition to being well versed in the bedroom arts, Rogue knew Gambit was pretty quick on the whole body language thing. So he was probably well aware that he was turning her on.

It was at that point she saw a flash of fuchsia in the corner of her eye and she pushed him off. Gambit grinned back at her, pulling his shirt back on. He didn't bother doing the buttons back up.

"Hey," Rogue objected. "Ah stole that fair and square."

"So, I stole it back," he grinned back at her, leaning on the wall next to her. "I did start off my t'ieving career as a pick pocket, y'know."

"Ahem," Logan coughed from the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, hi Logan," Rogue giggled.

"You're awake."

"Yeah."

"Next time, let me know if you're too tired, Rogue, or stay in bed. Don't dose up on the caffeine."

"Ah won't. Ah'm sorry."

"Hey Logan," called Bobby. "Can we pull the bad nightmare thing to get out of danger room too?"

"Sure thing Ice, the night you spend five hours wandering aimlessly around the mansion and throwing up at irregular intervals, you can miss danger room the next morning," Logan replied shortly.

He glanced over at Rogue and Gambit again, decided he really didn't want to know, and left.

"Well, ma chére," Gambit said. "I'm t'inking we should get cleaned up, no?"

"Yeah, probably," Rogue agreed.

The original plan had been Rogue freaking out, drawing on his face and then the kiss with a little dip. Hey, if people were going to insist on talking, then Gambit wanted to give them something to talk about (preferably something he had control over). It amused him just how far on a tangent they'd gone. He wondered just how far he could take it.

Gambit leaned in closer so she could feel his breath against her cheek and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Shower?"

"Right, like that'll work," Rogue snorted contemptuously.

"Where dere's a will, dere's a way."

And without another word, Gambit picked her up in a fireman's hold and carried her towards the door.

"Hey! Put me down, ya great lummox!"

"Sure t'ing chérie, and den yo' can put me down, no?"

"Put ya down? What - oh. Oh! Hey!"

Gambit chuckled as they left the rec room and made their way to the nearest bathroom. He put Rogue down and locked the door while she cracked up laughing, and had to support herself on the basin. Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh that was priceless. Man, Ah wish we'd set up a camera in advance. Y'know, so we could have watched everyones reactions. Especially Kitty's. Ah bet she's totally freakin' out right about now."

"Dat was good improv on the shirt," Gambit replied, grinning. "Although, 'I'm wit' stupid'?"

"Ah saw it on a shirt once. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Isn't the arrow usually pointing t' the side though?"

"Not on this one."

Gambit snickered, then snapped his fingers.

"Damn, I left my trench coat in dere."

Rogue giggled, and turned on the taps to start washing ink off her face. Gambit shrugged.

"Hope yo' don't mind chérie, but I t'ink I will have dat shower."

"Seriously? Okay well, I'll just -"

"No, stay. It'll add t' the illusion. I'll just change behind the curtain."

"Yeah because we have a gatherin' outside the bathroom door right now, waitin' ta hear if the shower does in fact start runnin'," Rogue said cynically.

"I suspected as much."

Rogue snickered and Gambit grinned at her as he started taking off his boots.

"Ya have no shame, do ya, swamp rat?"

"Oh I have plenty o' t'ings t' be ashamed about. Dis just ain't one o' dem."

"By the way... this is what you'd like ta do with me if ya could touch muh skin?"

Gambit chuckled as he stepped behind the curtain.

"Chére, I do that all the time. I just liked the way dat book o' yours described it."

Rogue tried to ignore the way her face blushed in her reflection on the mirror as she continued to clean it. Gambit grinned at her silence and dumped the rest of his clothes outside the curtain.

"Chérie?"

"Mmm?"

"I can understand why _yo'_ would read romance novels, but I have to ask... Do yo' get off on romance novels like Bobby gets off on dirty -"

"Don't ya dare finish askin' that question, swamp rat!" Rogue exclaimed, her face going bright red.

"I'll take dat as a yes," Gambit chuckled, turning on the water.

"Shut ya mouth, saloon boy. Not all of us can get the real thing, so don't mock muh guilty pleasures."

"Oooh _guilty_ pleasures is it?"

"If ya don't drop the subject _right now_ Ah promise ya Ah will track down Kate and tell her all sorts of naughty, untrue stories about what we get up ta."

"What kind o' naughty stories? Can I be dere when yo' tell her?"

"Maybe I'll tell her we're engaged."

"Well, dat's no fun. I was hoping fo' somet'ing more along the lines o' what I wrote on your cheek."

"It'll be fun for me ta watch her slap ya."

"On the other hand, mebbe dere'll be a cat fight, no?"

"You're insatiable. Is this ink never gonna come off? Seriously. Did we pick up a permanent marker by accident or something?"

"I'm not having any problems, but den, mine's fresher dan yours."

"Meh."

There was silence for the next couple of minutes then Gambit turned off the shower and asked Rogue if she'd pass him a towel, which she did with eyes averted. She went back to the basin, finally making progress on taking the ink off.

"So, chére... what was that Logan was saying? About wandering aimlessly around the mansion and throwing up?"

"Oh... well..." Rogue stammered a little, then shrugged. "These bad ones - the really bad ones like last night? That's usually what Ah end up doin'. Can't sleep, so Ah just wander around. Ah think Ah just have trouble stayin' still, especially with some of the imagery Ah get. Like with Logan and him getting his adamantium skeleton? He was being held in place and..."

Rogue swallowed and closed her eyes, unable to finish.

"Was dat what yo' were dreaming about last night?"

"Don't know. Ah'd say it was probably somethin' Pyro related, except Ah didn't think he had any psycho memories like that. Maybe it started out with Pyro and Magneto and that fed off inta one of Magneto's memories of the holocaust. That gets me every time. Hell, Ellis Island? Absorbing Magneto _and_ Logan in one day? Ah had nightmares that bad for a month."

"Hank mentioned somet'ing about that," Gambit commented, picking his clothes up off the floor.

"Yeah, well, it was the worst month of muh life. The first couple of days weren't too bad, because Ah had absorbed that much of Logan that Ah was heavy on his personality traits, and that helped a lot. But after Ah lost those traits, Ah was _afraid_ ta go ta sleep. Ah was dosin' up on the caffeine something fierce. Kept wanderin' around the mansion at night, throwin' up and occasionally they'd find me collapsed somewhere on the floor in the mornin'. Ah was a complete and utter mess. Ended up in the medlabs with dehydration and a seriously bad case of exhaustion. They had ta drug me inta sleep and then of course, the dreams would come again. The Professor was able to help me though. He'd already been teachin' me how to make this brick wall in muh mind. Ah'm much, much better at it than Ah used ta be, but Ah haven't quite managed ta keep it from deterioratin' overnight."

"Which is why yo' still get nightmares huh?"

"Yeah."

Gambit pulled open the curtain and stepped out to put his boots back on. He looked at her with a contemplative expression on his face.

"Yo' wit' the Wolverine's personality. Now dat woulda been interesting."

Rogue snorted.

"Ah think that's when everyone first started avoidin' me, actually. That and the fact that Logan nearly died."

"But still... I'm just picturing yo' going around callin' people 'bub', drinking beer, smoking cigars and just generally being aggressive."

Rogue looked over at him, then laughed.

"Well, they did manage ta keep the beer and cigars away from me, but yeah."

"Looks like yo' finally got it all off."

"Just about."

"Damn," Gambit said as he regarded his shirt. "Rogue?"

"Mmm?"

"Yo' ripped buttons off, river rat."

"Oh. Oh no, Ah'm sorry," she said, trying to stifle a giggle. "If we can find 'em Ah'll put 'em back on for ya."

"I'd appreciate that."

Gambit walked up to her, put one hand on her waist and held his shirt in front of her face.

"Present."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him as she took the shirt from his fingers. She made a final inspection of her face as she tied his shirt around her waist again. Satisfied, and with his arm still around her waist, the two returned to the rec room.

Rogue rejoined her friends on the lounge and picked up her late lunch.

"Oh good you got his shirt back," said Jubilee, watching Gambit as he made his way to the other side of the room.

"Yes, yes I did," Rogue nodded.

"Is his hair wet?"

"Possibly."

"Did he shower with -"

"Jubes!" Kitty cut her off in complaint.

"What? That man makes awesome eye candy. Now, if I can only get him to stop calling me 'petite'..."

Rogue giggled and Jubilee drooled happily watching Gambit as he retrieved his trench coat and bent over to pick something up off the floor.

"Rogue? Can we switch places for a day? Please?"

"I don't see what the big deal is," said Bobby.

"That's because you have wimpy abs -"

"I do not."

"Now, Pete here could probably give Remy a run for his money."

Pete coughed and Jubilee laughed at him. Before any more could be said on the matter, Gambit approached them.

"Ahh, chérie," he said to Rogue. "Found 'em."

Rogue held out her hand so he could give her the two buttons he'd found.

"Now, when you're done sewing them back on, I really t'ink yo' should wash and iron it before giving it back t' me."

"That's not really a whole lot of incentive ta return it. Maybe I'll just keep it as a souvenir and sleep with it under muh pillow at night."

"Whatever turns yo' on, ma chére," he replied, leaning over and kissing her head through her hair. "Later."

Rogue couldn't resist the urge to pinch his behind as he moved past. Especially as her eyes were on Kitty's and she promptly winced in disgust. Rogue giggled.

"Oh man," Gambit heard Jubilee complain as he headed out the door. "I wanna get away with doing that."

"Aww, poor Jubes," Bobby said. "If it makes you feel any better, you can pinch me on the ass any time you want."

"Really?"

"Umm, was that the wrong thing to say?"

Gambit chuckled as he left ear shot and headed to his room to grab a clean shirt. This had certainly turned out to be an interesting day after all. He certainly enjoyed seeing how far he could push boundaries and today he felt the boundaries had definitely shifted.

A wicked little smile crossed his lips as he pulled his shirt on, followed by his trench coat. There had been something he'd joked about giving Rogue some months back, but never actually went through with, mostly because he didn't think he could get away with it without upsetting her. But now they had this mutual hobby in freaking out Kitty, and Rogue had been the one to take the initiative and take off his shirt and pinch his behind so there appeared to be a rather nice window of opportunity here he could make use of.

Gambit made his way down to the garage and his motorcycle. He'd already bought Rogue a Christmas present, but he didn't think she'd complain about a second one. And it would have to be a public present, not private like his original intention. Otherwise, they'd miss out on a prime opportunity to freak Kitty out again (and possibly others). Christmas wasn't all that far away now either. Still, he should test the waters out between now and then, just to make sure he actually could get away with it. Rogue was his friend first - one of the closest friends he'd made in a long time - and he didn't want to lose her on account of an ill-thought out gift.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Gambit swaggered into the kitchen later that night.

"Ahh, Logan, fancy meeting yo' here."

"Evening. Back early from a date, or danger room with Rogue?"

"Rogue," Gambit replied pulling out a bottle of champagne and filling his glass.

Logan looked at Gambit sceptically.

"Champagne?"

Gambit looked at his glass, then at Logan's bottle of beer with a smirk.

"Beer's fo' wimps."

"Champagne's for pansies."

"And people wit' educated palates."

"Probably about the only education you ever got, Gumbo."

"Wit' your healing factor, I'm surprise yo' don't hit the harder stuff, mon ami. How much beer do yo' have ta drink t' even get a buzz?"

"You'd be surprised."

"At how much, or how little?"

"You itching for another fight, Cajun?"

"Oui. You're the only one in dis entire school dat's capable o' giving me a decent work out."

"What about Storm?"

"In all the years I've known her she's never beaten me in a fight yet. Powers or no."

"Faster than lightning, eh bub?"

"Oh it's easy enough t' figure out where it's going t' strike. But she only tries it when I really tick her off."

"She must throw lightning bolts at you frequently then."

Gambit chuckled.

"Given that my staff is admantium and my boots are metal, I'd say I'm rather impressed wit' myself actually about never being hit."

"Why on earth do you have metal boots anyway? Don't they slow you down?"

"Actually, my boots have been crafted in such a way that they don't actually weigh much more than your traditional boots. They're not one hundred percent metal, and the metal component is actually light weight. We're not exactly dealing with plate armour here, which is good, because dey need some flexibility, no? And some compromises had t' be made in order t' allow me t' move about stealthily. On the other hand, when I kick someone in the head, dey stay down. And it don't hurt getting kicked in the shins either."

"That happen to you often?"

"If it does I haven't noticed it."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're very strange? Adamantium staff, metal boots, playing cards as weapons, latex lips?"

Gambit chuckled.

"Well, when Roguey started kissing people as her main method o' attack, it seemed like a good idea t' get some made. Sooner or later I knew I'd have an opportunity t' use 'em."

"Who makes stuff like... no never mind. I don't want to know. And I especially don't want to know how you found them."

"I wouldn't be much o' a t'ief if I couldn't get access t' all sorts o' information."

"I thought it had more to do with your womanising."

"I'm not a womaniser, Wolverine. I'm a ladies man."

Logan snorted.

"There's a difference?"

"Oui. I happen t' enjoy the romance and the seduction. Womanisers skip all dat and go straight t' the sex."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you Cajun?"

Gambit shrugged nonchalantly.

"Is that why you always wear pink? To add to the romantic mood?"

Gambit snorted, pulled one of his card out of his pocket and charged it.

"Notice anyt'ing, mon ami?"

"Right, camouflage. I knew that."

"Colour chose me, not the other way around. And it's magenta. Or fuchsia. Not pink."

"Close enough."

"Uh huh. So, why are yo' so short?"

"Height chose me, not the other way around," Logan smirked at him. "Besides, it has its benefits. Like a lower centre of gravity which works well when dealing with tall dancing boys like you."

"Yeah, dat and the admantium skeleton should do a pretty good job o' anchoring yo' in place no?"

Logan chuckled and Gambit grinned.

"Y'know somet'ing mon ami? One o' dese nights we should go drinkin' at a bar, instead o' fairy tale land here."

Logan snorted.

"Yeah, this is what we get for living at a school."

* * *

Another time in the rec room, on a day much closer to Christmas, the X-men were playing whilst the Christmas parade played on the TV. No one was really watching it, although many would glance over from time to time just to see how it was going. It was Pete who caught the alert.

"Uhh, guys?" he said. "Sabretooth's crashing the parade."

"What's dis?" Gambit questioned, moving to the back of the lounge to see.

"See? Sabretooth's trashing the floats."

"Guess we'd better go stop them," Jubilee said. "We need to tell Logan. And Rogue."

"I t'ink we should leave Rogue outta dis one petite," Gambit said. "Dere's a lot of people involved, and she don't do crowds well."

"Oh!" Kitty gasped. "Isn't that Toad?"

"Are you sure we shouldn't get Rogue?" Bobby asked. "I'd hate to deny her the opportunity to catch up with her boyfriend."

Kitty glared at him.

"Or find out if the long tongue really is worth it?" Gambit suggested.

"Eww. You two are gross."

They chuckled.

* * *

"Sabretooth," Wolverine growled.

"Wolverine," Sabretooth sniffed. "And Gambit. This must be my lucky day."

Gambit wore his usual smirk, spinning his staff around idly in his fingers. The rest of the team moved to rescue and other wise protect the crowd.

"I heard yo' were working fo' Magneto. What happened? Did Sinister take away your ball o' yarn?"

"I'm going to look forward to gutting you again."

"Why? It didn't work too well last time. See, me alive? Taunting yo'? I -" Gambit cut himself off when he felt a jerk on his staff.

Gambit looked up and saw a long green tongue wrapped around the top. His reflexes had prevented the little green man attached to said tongue from whipping it out of his fingers.

"Oh, yo' must be Toad. Rogue mentioned yo' had a long tongue. Let's see if she was right about the stamina as well," Gambit said, jerking his staff back and pulling Toad off his perch.

Toad released his tongue, landed soundly and smirked at him as he stood, his own staff in hand. A moment later the two were at blows. Both being agile, acrobatic types, they were, at least to begin with, fairly evenly matched.

"Dancing boys," Wolverine and Sabretooth said together.

They locked eyes and growled, both equally annoyed at having said the same thing at the same time, and then they two attacked each other.

The fight between Gambit and Toad was pathetically short, as Toad quickly became short of breath.

"You're not going t' have a hearty on me are yo' mon ami?" Gambit inquired, his staff under Toad's chin.

Toad's response was to spit at him. Gambit just managed to duck the large green slime ball in time.

"Well, that's slightly gross," he said. "Let's see how just long dis tongue o' yours is."

Gambit grabbed his tongue, and steadfastly refusing to drop the slimy thing, proceeded to yank out as much as he could. Despite Toad's feeble attempts to stop him, Gambit managed to tie him up with his own tongue. This done, Gambit wiped his hands on Toad's clothes, making a mental note to burn this particular pair of gloves and give his fingers a thorough scalding when they got back.

He turned his attention back to Sabretooth and Wolverine who were still at it like hammer and tongs. Like he'd expect anything less what with their mutual healing factors. The team kept the crowd at bay while the two ferals crashed into barricades, mangled over trashed floats and tussled on the ground. Wounds were created and healed, although Gambit fancied in the frenzy that Wolverine's healing factor might actually be faster.

The fight, however, never came to a proper end. A great metal ball in the sky. It opened up and standing inside was Magneto and Pyro. Magneto made a tsking sound even as he sent a strip of metal to grab onto Toad and haul him up. Wolverine was being held in place and Sabretooth smirked at him ready to make a final plunge.

"Sabretooth, it's time to go," Magneto informed him.

Sabretooth growled as another strip of metal wrapped itself around him and hauled him up to the metal sphere. Wolverine was released as soon as Sabretooth was out of reach.

"Go on now, Sabey," Gambit said, unable to help himself. "Maybe if you're a good little kitty-cat you'll be rewarded with a saucer o' milk, no?"

"Laugh while you can Gambit. This isn't over Wolverine," was Sabretooth's parting shot as he entered the metal ball.

The ball closed and off it sped.

"I'm sensing you have history," Logan commented to Gambit.

"Far, far too much history, I'm afraid, mon ami."

"Saucer of milk huh?"

"I've been wanting t' say that t' him fo' years."

Logan chuckled.

"Shouldn't we be going after them?" asked Bobby.

"Blackbird's not made of plastic, bub," Logan replied. "C'mon, let's get out of here before the police decide to arrest _us_."

* * *

"Chérie?"

"Mmm?"

"Pick another member of the Brotherhood."

"Umm okay?"

"Yo' definitely don't want t' do Toad. His tongue is not worth it."

Rogue giggled, remembering the conversation some weeks ago now.

"Oh? Y'know this from _personal_ experience?"

Gambit held out his hands, red raw from scrubbing.

"Okay, Ah'll take that as a yes."

* * *

"I don't get it. Why would Magneto send Sabretooth and Toad out to wreck havoc at the parade, and then retreat before it's over?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Bobby agreed. "Something's going down."

"And all we're seeing is what pieces o' the puzzle they choose t' give us," Gambit said gravely. "I don't know dat I like being left in the dark. Well, unless I'm stealing somet'ing."

He chuckled at his own 'joke'.

"Maybe we should have brought you with us, Rogue. You could have absorbed Sabretooth or Toad and seen what they knew," Jubilee said.

Rogue turned up her nose.

"Right, because Ah really want the eternally foul Toad stuck in muh head, or psycho Sabretooth who'd probably give me worse nightmares than Magneto."

"Hey you're the one who said you'd sleep with Toad," Bobby teased.

"That was the stupidest discussion we've ever had."

"Reneging huh? I'm sure Toad will be so disappointed."

"Ah'm sure he'll get over it."

"It probably better dis way, no?" Gambit cut in. "Toady-boy would probably have a hearty just lookin' at Rogue naked. Let alone trying t' keep up wit' her."

Logan snickered and didn't bother hiding his smile as Rogue blushed.

"Now that's a happy thought to take to bed with me tonight," Bobby said mischievously. "Naked Rogue."

"Sorry Bobby, but ya lost the rights ta that particular visual when we broke up," Rogue dismissed.

"Nah, you never lose the rights to mentally undress people."

"And what, pray tell, were ya plannin' on doin' with that visual? Touch it?" Rogue snapped at him.

The grin faded from Bobby's face.

"Ah didn't think so."

There was an odd silence.

"So, we've had two abrupt attacks by the Brotherhood," Storm said, breaking the silence. "Three if you count the first one by Avalanche, although I don't know if he was actually associated with the Brotherhood at that point."

Gambit reached out and slowly ran his arm around Rogue's waist. His hand rested on her hip.

"Why would they drop in, wreck the place and go out again?" Pete asked. "Is there anything they have in common?"

Rogue looked back at Gambit and smiled faintly. He smiled back.

"And we get different members every time," Jubilee added.

Rogue adjusted herself slightly and leaned back so that her head rested on Gambit's shoulder.

"They're public, lots of people," Kitty said. "We've had to do crowd control and rescues every time."

Gambit casually moved his other hand around Rogue's waist so that she was now nicely enveloped in his arms.

"A parade, a market place and a main road. Other than people and a large potential for damaging property, I can't see that they have anything in common. Still, we'll run it through the computer and see what comes up. Never know, we might get a possible hit," Storm said, sounding dubious.

"Just make sure the computer knows that we have no idea if Avalanche's attack was related or not. The Brotherhood could have just scouted him out to join their ranks," Logan said warily.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A couple of nights later, Gambit walked into the kitchen to find Logan and Storm talking.

"Remy?" Storm asked in surprise, glancing at the clock. "You're home early. Weren't you on a date?"

"In a manner o' speaking," Gambit replied, opening up the liquor cabinet and pulling out a bottle of whiskey. "Broke it off with Kate tonight."

"Ahh. I was wondering when you were going to get bored with her. Three weeks, must be some kind of record," Storm teased.

"Non. Definitely set the record with Rogue. Being going out fo' months now," Gambit said with a wink as he joined them at the bench.

"What? No champagne?" Logan asked with raised eyebrows.

"T'night's definitely a whiskey night."

"What about Bella Donna?" Storm asked. "Weren't you with her for years?"

"I t'ink on and off for years is more accurate," Gambit shrugged.

"You got married," Storm pointed out dryly.

"Wait... someone actually agreed to marry _you_?" Logan asked.

"Arranged marriage," Gambit shrugged. "Didn't really last long anyway. Hell, legally I was never married at all, seeing as how we never got around t' signing the register before Julien decided that duelling me t' the death was a good idea. Maybe seeing me kiss his sister and being announced as man and wife was the straw dat broke the camel's back no? It's old news anyway. Haven't seen Belle nor been t' N'Awlins in... merde, it would have t' be about seventeen years now."

He took a big swig of the whiskey.

"Well, in any case," Storm went on, "you and Rogue dating is hardly a romantic thing. Friends with benefits maybe."

Logan snorted.

"Friends with benefits?" Gambit repeated.

"You two are a little all over each other sometimes. All that flirting and touching, y'know."

"Stormy, a couple o' weeks after Rogue and I got here she thanked me fo' somet'ing most people take fo' granted," Gambit said slowly, sounding somewhat annoyed. "She thanked me fo' being her friend and treating her like a person."

Storm looked down at the counter, the amused look gone from her face.

"Let's put t'ings in perspective here, chérie. I'm a bastard. I've done t'ings that would probably give her nightmares as bad as Logan or Magneto's psyches. I steal fo' a living and sometimes just for the fun o' it. I sleep around. I use people and kick 'em when dey're down. I'm a liar, a con artist and a cheat. And _I'm_ the one who treats her right? Dat's screwed up, Stormy. Dat's real screwed up. Here we are, living in a mansion full o' people who should know better, and me and Logan here are the only ones not afraid o' her? What the hell is dat all about?"

"You're right," Storm said softly. "Her powers make everyone nervous, including me. I'm trying, I really am, Remy. She's gone through a lot of crap over the years and I know we haven't made it any easier for her. And it's not like we have any real reason to justify it either: she's never had any accidents, if you discount her relationship with Bobby."

"Yeah, all her absorptions here at the mansion have been deliberate, and most if not all in the danger room. Although, I think Pete and I are the only ones who ever volunteered," Logan commented. "Even then, Pete avoids getting close to her socially."

"Exactly, so don't give me this stupid 'friends with benefits' crap. Her mutation might prevent her from enjoying the full range of physical affection but it's sure as hell not fair t' deny her what she can enjoy. People need touch, Storm. It's just as important as food and water and air. You're all probably damned lucky she hasn't gone insane."

Logan regarded Gambit with a great deal of interest. Yeah it annoyed him too the way people physically behaved around Rogue but the Cajun seemed downright angry about it. He'd even forgotten to call Storm "Stormy".

"I know. And you... Remy, I know I said things at first about you being a bad influence and everything, but I really am grateful you stayed, if only for Rogue's sake -"

"Grateful? Merde! Storm, you're damned lucky I haven't left and taken her with me! I'm sure as hell not here t' hang out with the X-men or further your cause for peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. The rest o' the world can go t' hell fo' all I care. I'm here because o' Rogue and only because o' Rogue. Don't give me dat grateful crap. Start damn well doing somet'ing about it. A pat on the back, a reassuring arm, a hug! You're gonna be touching her clothes, not her skin. There's not'ing t' be damned afraid o'. I've been doing it fo' months and she hasn't absorbed me once."

Now enraged, Gambit couldn't sit still and started pacing around the room.

"She's been starving, don't yo' get it? You've all been starving her t' death. And den, when I have the audacity t' try and feed the woman, what happens? I get ridiculed by her own so-called friends. Dey're the worse of them. Dey share meals with her, and go out t'gether, socialise, work t'gether. And every single one o' dem leaves as wide a gap as they can get away wit' when they sit next t' her. Dey shuffle their things on the table away just far enough so that their hands won't accidentally touch each other while dey're eating. And dat's not even the start o' it. In fact the worst part is dat dey've all being doing it fo' so long it's become an unconscious habit."

"Remy -"

"Shut up Storm," Gambit snapped at her, grabbing the whiskey off the counter. "I don't want t' hear any more excuses. And I swear if I ever hear that stupid fucking 'friends with benefits' line again, I'll fucking blow up the whole damned mansion."

Neither said a word as Gambit stamped out of the kitchen.

"Well, uhh..." Storm stammered uncertainly.

"He's right y'know."

"I know. I do, really. I just... I just don't... How do you change a mass, well-ingrained fear?"

"Isn't that what we're trying to do as X-men between mutants and humans? Can't say we're going to have a whole lot of success if we can't even do it between mutants and mutants."

"Yeah," Storm frowned slightly. "I have to say though, I never expected Remy to act like that. I can't even remember the last time I saw him lose his temper. He's usually so... well contained."

A smile crossed Logan's face.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet darlin'?"

"Figured what out?"

"Gumbo's in love with Rogue."

"He is?"

"Yep. I suspected something was up since day one, but tonight just confirmed it. And here I thought women were supposed to be the perspective ones," Logan smirked. "Although granted I do have an advantage. Hormones, pheromones. The nose knows."

"I'm sorry, are we talking about the same Cajun thief here? Remy LeBeau, ladies man, incapable of holding down a steady relationship at all? Only ever cares about himself?"

"Sounds to me like he's found someone worth caring about."

"I don't know, Logan. I've known Remy a long time, and I'm thinking that maybe we should check he hasn't been replaced by a shape shifter or a clone or something."

Logan laughed.

* * *

It was not quite Christmas, but it was going to be the last night that everyone at the mansion was going to be there before many returned to their families over the break. Thus it was on this night that they held their Christmas party and gifts were exchanged between those who were leaving.

"Hey Rogue," Gambit said during the course of the evening. "Gotcha somet'ing."

As he handed her the slim box Rogue looked at him curiously.

"Ah thought ya were stayin' for Christmas?" she inquired.

Gambit ran his fingers down her arm.

"Oh I am, but I thought I might give yo' this one early," he mischievously and glanced towards Kitty.

Rogue followed his gaze and raised her eyebrows.

"Remy? What are ya up ta?"

"Why don't yo' open it and find out?"

Rogue chuckled at his boyish expression, sat on the arm of the lounge next to him and opened up the box. She peeled aside the tissue paper and started laughing as she pulled out the contents.

"Remy! Ah can't... ya bought me lingerie?"

"Told yo' I'd return the favour," Gambit said smugly.

Rogue shook her head, not knowing whether to be amused or horrified.

"And Ah told ya Ah wouldn't model it for ya."

"Aww, why not chérie? I modelled the underwear yo' bought for me."

"Ya volunteered. Ah sure didn't ask ya ta. Or expect it of ya neither."

"Why not chére? Yo' should know me better dan dat by now."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him and he moved in with that smirk on his face.

"And dere yo' go tempting me again."

There is a strange phenomena that happens in large groups of people, where in an odd chance of timing all conversation seems to stop, if only for a second. Rogue was opening her mouth to reply with a smart-alec comment when one of these moments occurred. There was only one voice that spoke in that moment, only one word for all the room to hear:

"Pedophile."

Silence.

Gambit caught Kitty's eyes, who blushed slightly at her comment to Jubilee being so widely overheard. His jovial expression disappeared behind a stone wall. He stood, took his trench coat off the back of the lounge and stalked out of the room. He said not a word, but slammed the double doors behind him with a loud bang.

Everyone was so caught up in Gambit's departure that no one noticed Rogue approaching Kitty. Kitty certainly didn't have time to go intangible before Rogue's fist slammed hard across her face. Kitty put her hand to her cheek and Rogue grabbed her chin.

"The next words ya say ta Remy had better be a genuine, heart-felt apology Katherine Pryde, or never say another word ta him ever again," Rogue said in ice cold fury. "Or me neither for that matter."

She let go of Kitty's chin and no one said a word until after Rogue too, had left the room. Kitty rubbed her cheek.

"Well, that was uncalled for," she muttered.

"No, Katya," Pete said so sharply that Kitty was surprised at him. "What you said was uncalled for."

"Yeah, 'dirty old man' is funny," Bobby nodded. "'Cradle robber' is funny. 'Sugar daddy' is even hilarious, mostly because it might even be true. 'Pedophile' is just plain offensive."

"Hey, I was just saying what everyone else was thinking."

"No, you were saying what _you_ were thinking," Storm said coolly. "Despite his career of choice, Remy is an honourable man. He didn't deserve that. What's more, Rogue's an adult and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Were Remy's advances unwanted she would have shut him down long before now. If Remy comes back, you will apologise to him publicly. Is that clear?"

"Ye-es Storm."

"If?" Jubilee queried tentatively.

"If."

Kitty wriggled nervously. After that things were just too tense. Her friends wouldn't look at her and all conversation around her seem stilted. Unable to take the atmosphere any more, Kitty stood and made her way to the door. Logan intercepted her.

"If the Cajun leaves, Rogue'll leave with him. And she won't even give it a second thought," he told her in a low voice.

Kitty swallowed and left.

* * *

Rogue caught up with Gambit in the garage.

"Remy?" she called softly.

Gambit looked at her, his expression giving away nothing.

"I need to clear my head," he said shortly.

"Are... are ya comin' back?" she asked, closing the distance between them.

He was silent for a moment.

"In a couple o' days. After Kitty leaves."

"Okay."

Rogue wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close. After a moment's pause, Gambit put his arms around her too, and kissed her head through her hair.

* * *

**AN:** And there's a joke that backfired, hahaha.

Don't be too harsh on Kitty. Some people in real life have used the word 'pedophile' in conjunction with the idea of Rogue and Gambit getting together in the movies. (Personally, I think they're being unreasonable and are putting far too much stock in "age" and not enough in "character"). This is really just me poking fun at their stupidity.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"You alright, Stripes?"

Rogue looked behind her shoulder and looked at Logan. She was leaning on the balcony off her room.

"Why'd she say that? Even if... even if there was anything romantic happenin' between us - which there's _not_ - Ah'm nineteen. Ah think that kinda qualifies me as an adult."

Logan stood beside her, looking off the balcony into the night sky as he smoked his cigar.

"Forget Kitty," he said. "She's got a lot of growing up to do."

"It was completely rude and unjustified."

"Don't let it bother you."

"Remy _left_. How can it not bother me? He's the best friend Ah've made in years and because that... that... because _she_ can't keep her stupid opinions ta herself..." Rogue trailed off in frustration.

"He said he'd be back, didn't he?"

"Well, yeah."

"So, don't worry about it. The Cajun's not the type who can just sit still in one place for long."

There was quiet while Rogue considered this.

"Ah guess not," she conceded finally, then grinned at him. "After all, you would know."

Logan snorted.

* * *

A couple of days turned into a week before Rogue came out of the danger room after a session with Bobby and Jubilee to see Gambit leaning on the wall outside the door.

"Remy!"

In one fluid motion she had her arms wrapped down him, hugging him tight. Gambit grinned at her.

"If I didn't know better, chérie, I'd say yo' missed me."

"Now why would Ah miss a big ol' swamp rat like you?"

Gambit chuckled. Rogue caught a whiff of something and pulled back with a slight frown.

"Have ya been smokin'?"

Gambit shrugged.

"So the ladies tell me, no?"

"Smart ass."

"Yo' only wish yo' were as smart as my ass."

Rogue giggled.

"Don't change the subject, saloon boy. Ah thought ya quit eight years ago."

"I did."

"So?"

"So what, chére?"

Rogue rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

"Hand 'em over."

"Excuse me?"

"The cigarettes. Hand 'em over."

"Yo' want one?"

"No, and ya don't either. They're bad for your health," she gave him a Look. "Now, swamp rat."

Gambit regarded her in amusement.

"I really don't think so, chérie."

"Fine."

Not the slightest bit put off, Rogue started rummaging through his trench coat pockets.

"What are yo' doing?"

"If ya not gonna hand 'em over like Ah asked, then Ah'm just gonna have ta find 'em muhself. What kinda friend would Ah be if Ah just stood by and let ya pick up that filthy, disgustin' habit again, huh?" Rogue demanded, then pulled a face. "What on earth is this?"

"Yeah, yo' might want t' stay outta that particular pocket."

"Just how many pockets do ya have anyway?"

"Here," Gambit said, fishing out his packet of cigarettes and holding them in front of her face. "Happy now?"

Rogue swiped them from his hand.

"Much."

"I don't know why I put up with yo'."

"It's because Ah'm so cute and adorable."

"And modest," Gambit teased.

"Glad ya noticed."

"Wanna go out fo' lunch?"

"Sure, just lemme shower and get changed. Really stinky after danger room."

"Oui," Gambit replied fanning his nose with a grin on his face. "I can tell."

"Oh, shush you," Rogue retorted as she walked off. "And get some gum, smoke-breath!"

Gambit snickered.

"Hanging around?" asked Logan from behind.

Gambit turned and shrugged.

"Haven't decided yet. See how t'ings go."

Logan grunted and lit his cigar.

"I'd offer you one, but you've already had words with the little woman," he smirked at him.

Gambit chuckled.

"Yo' itching fo' a fight, mon ami?"

"Yeah. You're the only one around here capable of giving me a decent work out."

The two men looked at each other and snickered.

* * *

"... and Jubes puts on this mock-innocent voice and says 'Ah was talkin' about brushin' muh teeth'," Rogue giggled.

Gambit snorted.

"Where does she pick up all dese jokes anyway?"

"Internet, where else?"

"I don't know... somehow I can t'ink of much more interesting t'ings t' look up on the net dan dirty jokes."

"That's because you _are_ a dirty joke," Rogue grinned as she dug her spoon into her chocolate ice cream sundae.

"Wanna help me get clean?"

Rogue licked the ice cream off her spoon and pointed it at him.

"Won't remove the 'joke' status."

"Skunkhead."

"Don't call me that."

"Why not chére? It gets such a good reaction."

"Maybe Ah should dye it."

"Aww, but it looks cute on yo'. Besides, I'll still call yo' skunkhead, skunkhead."

"Ya would."

"Absolument."

"Remy?"

The two looked up to se a striking brunette at their table.

"Oh... Kate, hi," Gambit said.

Well, this was going to be awkward. Kate looked at Rogue, then back at Gambit.

"It didn't take you long to move on, huh?"

Rogue decided that the best course of action was to remain silent. What with Gambit's arm around her, she doubted she could defuse the situation by pretending to be his daughter Anna like they had at the French restaurant some weeks back now. Kate was obviously upset. Gambit shrugged.

"T'ings weren't working out between us, chérie."

"So the first thing you do is jump into bed with another woman?"

Gambit sighed and stood up, took her hand and gazed into her eyes.

"Yo' are a wonderful woman, Katie." he said softly, turning on the charm. "You'll find someone else who'll make yo' forget all about me."

"But I don't want to forget you, Remy. I thought we had something."

"We did, chérie, but it passed."

Rogue concentrated on her sundae. Awkward much?

"Can't we bring it back?"

"It's not that easy."

"It could be. Just ditch the whore and come with me."

"Uhh, excuse me?" Rogue cut in.

"You heard me," Kate spat. "Whore."

"Ahh, if only Ah was capable."

Gambit recognised Rogue's dangerous tone and started getting nervous.

"Uhh, Rogue -" he began, looking at her.

"Rogue?" Katie interrupted sharply, then stared at her. "You're Rogue? This is Rogue?"

"Oui," Gambit replied, sounding resigned.

"You bastard!" Kate cried, slapping Gambit hard across the face. "How could you?"

"I did tell yo' it wasn't working, chérie. I'm sorry if I hurt yo', but I -"

"Save it. I don't want to hear your excuses," she snapped at him, pushing him away.

She turned on her heel and fled while Gambit slowly sat back down.

"So, what was that all about?" Rogue asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"How's your sundae?"

Rogue tilted her head in mild amusement.

"It's fine, thanks."

Well, if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't push it.

* * *

Gambit found it easier to return to the old routine in the mansion than he thought it would be. Not that there was much of a routine with half the population home for the holidays but there was enough. No one mentioned what happened at the Christmas party; in fact it was easy to forget the Incident even occurred. Of course, it did help that Kitty was at home celebrating Hanukkah with her family.

Christmas Day arrived and the morning was spent exchanging gifts. Rogue gave Gambit a couple of movies on DVD that she knew he liked, and was more than a little surprised when he gave her a small present in return.

"I thought ya already gave me a present," she teased.

"Dis one's better," Gambit shrugged.

Strangely he found himself actually more nervous about this present than he had been about the underwear.

"Well, thank ya," Rogue smiled.

She pulled away the wrapping paper to find a jewellery box. She glanced at him tentatively before opening it and finding a pair of deep green emerald earrings.

"Oh," she breathed. "Remy..."

She looked up at him seeing this intense yet completely unreadable expression on his face. She smiled and reached out to touch his face.

"Thank ya," she said softly. "Ah never expected... Ah... Thank ya."

She watched as his face relaxed into a smile.

"Put 'em on?"

"Sure."

Rogue took out the gold hoops she had been wearing, placed them aside on the table and put in the new earrings. Once in place, she turned her head so he could see.

"Ah ha, I knew it," Gambit said as he touched her hair by her ear.

"Knew what?"

"I knew you'd make 'em look beautiful."

"What?" Rogue said, giving him a mock-pout. "Ya sayin' Ah'm ugly?"

"Hideously so," he joked. "Good t'ing yo' have brains, no?"

"Well, in that case Ah definitely won't be modelling no underwear for ya. A hat maybe, since you're all so fond of muh head."

"Yo' really have t' stop teasin' me chérie. One day I might just give int' the urge t' pounce on yo'."

Rogue snorted.

"That's all Ah need. Your mind floatin' around in muh head."

"Might give yo' all sorts o' ideas."

"And bad habits. Plus Ah wouldn't have muh brains any more, so Ah'll be hideous _and_ stupid."

"Dat not nice, chérie."

"Neither is callin' me hideous, rude boy."

"Yo' started it," he grinned at her.

"Ah can finish it too, if ya want."

"By all means go right ahead. I'm all yours."

"Oh really?" Rogue asked coyly.

"Oui."

"Wow, there are so many different responses ta that Ah'm havin' trouble decidin' which one Ah like best."

"If dere's one dat involves yo' hauling me up t' your bedroom and havin' your wicked way wit' me, I'm all for that one," he nodded. "Or my bedroom. Either will do."

"Muh _wicked_ way with ya huh? What if it involves ritual sacrifice?"

"Aren't all ritual sacrifices virgins?"

"Nope."

"Oh right. Forgot about how the Amazons used men for sex and _then_ sacrificed them."

"Actually Ah was thinkin' more about the Aztecs."

"Don't yo' need a temple for dat?"

"No, no, ya asked if all ritual sacrifices were virgins."

"This is true. So what kind of ritual sacrifice we looking at here? Because I'm t'inking the Amazonian one sounds really good."

Rogue snickered.

"Ya would."

"Although, personally, I t'ink I'd rather avoid the whole sacrifice part o' the ritual."

"Imagine that. What a shame, because y'know, it might have been an interesting experiment. See how far we'd get before Ah sucked all the life out of ya," Rogue said cynically.

Gambit considered for a moment, then grinned at her.

"Dere are so many possible answers t' dat I can't decide which one I like best."

Rogue snickered.

"Lame brain."

"Scamp."

"Player."

"Tease."

"You like it."

Gambit shrugged.

"And now yo' know my deep dark secret, oui?"

Rogue laughed at him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Logan, Rogue, Gambit, Bobby and Jubilee climbed into the Blackbird a few days later.

"I really wish we knew what the Brotherhood was up to," Jubilee complained. "This is getting ridiculous. And they would have to _all_ show up during the holidays and we're short-staffed, wouldn't they?"

"Probably planned it dat way," Gambit said. "Personally, my money's on walking int' a trap."

"So, what you think we should just ignore it? Just let them attack innocent people?" Bobby demanded.

Gambit shrugged.

Not long thereafter they arrived. Logan frowned as he looked out the window. There was definite signs that the Brotherhood had been there what with the burning buildings and the dishevelled, torn up road, but it also seemed quiet.

"I am not liking dis, mes amis," Gambit said gravely.

"We'll give it a quick scout. If we find nothing, we leave. Stay no longer than we have to," Logan nodded.

The ramp was lowered and the X-men started walking down. They weren't all quite on the ground when there was a whizzing noise and Bobby put his hand to his neck. A long dart stuck out.

"Merde," said Gambit.

But there was no time for retreat, for more darts were shot. Soon there were five sedated bodies lying there, and their assailants moved in.

* * *

Gambit was the first to wake. He blinked repeatedly before sitting up and trying to get an understanding of his surroundings. To his right was Rogue. In front of him was Bobby and beside him was Jubilee. They were all seated on benches, in what Gambit supposed from the air pressure was a plane of some variety. There were thick, grey collars around their necks, their feet were chained to the floor, and he could feel his arms were stuck behind him in some kind of elbow-length mitt.

He couldn't use his powers.

He tried moving forward, but the mitts seemed to be anchoring him in place. He tried moving from side to side and found that he could. He craned his neck behind him - ahh yes, the mitts were chained together around a bar. His tried pulling his arms free, but however the mitts worked he couldn't figure out how to make them release him. He looked towards Rogue, trying to get a better look at them, and opted to take advantage of his ability to slide down the bench to get a closer inspection. There was a yank on the mitts before he got too far, the chains getting stopped by one of the joins holding it to the wall. No matter, he could see what he was looking for: a keyhole.

Gambit sat back to consider the matter while his eyes scanned the cargo bay. There were vents, but they were too small for anyone to fit through, assuming they could get free of their restraints. Without his powers he didn't think he could create an entrance to the rest of the plane either.

Sometime later the others began to wake. Bobby, then Jubilee and finally Rogue, who groaned fiercely as she came to.

"Yo' okay chére?"

"Oh so you inquire after Rogue but not us? I'm hurt," Bobby joked weakly.

"Fine, fine," Rogue said tersely.

"I don't suppose anyone knows what happened to Logan?" Jubilee asked.

"They left him behind," Rogue replied.

Wait, how did she know that?

"Rogue?" Gambit asked.

Rogue frowned.

"They're quiet. Muh voices, they're so quiet but... Ah think Ah have a new one."

"Yeah, our powers don't seem to be working," Bobby complained.

"Shush, Ah'm trying to hear."

Rogue closed her eyes, trying to find the voice. It was so strange for the voices to be so quiet. Hadn't been this quiet since she got the Cure. C'mon, c'mon, she knew it was there somewhere... ah ha!

"Matthew Davis," Rogue said opening her eyes. "He works for the Genoshan government... mutant resources department."

"Genosha?"

"Shh! We were set up... They left Wolverine behind - his powers, too much effort ta contain. Genoshan slave collars! They, they... c'mon, come back... they turn off mutant powers. Crap, there's an explosive. It's not big but it's enough ta blow ya head off, if they decide ta kill ya or if ya tamper with the lock. There's a... a pain setting as well. Some kind of electric shock? He doesn't know. He was puttin' mine on when he touched muh skin," Rogue shook her head. "Ah'm sorry, his voice is too quiet, even for a recent addition."

"Well, now we know where we're headed anyway," Bobby said grimly.

"I don't get it. Why would the Brotherhood set us up and allow us to be kidnapped by Genoshan slavers?" Jubilee demanded.

"Perhaps Mags is trying t' tell us somet'ing no?"

"He could have sent an email or something."

"So... what do we do? Because I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want to live the rest of my life as a slave," Bobby said.

"Remy, can't you do something?" Jubilee asked. "I mean, you're a thief right? Can't you get us out of these restraints? Or something?"

"Unfortunately, I can't get t' my lock picks, petite. In any case we're in a plane, and until the plane lands we can't exactly escape. Well, unless we were able to get out of this cargo bay and overpower whoever's flying this thing. I haven't spotted a way out though. Only doors are those ones, and I'm wagering they lead to the outside."

"This sucks."

There was a tense silence. Rogue chewed her bottom lip, then started shuffling across the bench to Gambit. He looked down at their knees as they brushed together.

"Remy?" Rogue said softly.

"Oui, chére?" Gambit asked, turning to look at her.

Rogue swallowed nervously

"Can... can Ah kiss ya?"

Gambit paused as the significance of the question dawned on him.

"Any time," he replied, lowering his head to meet hers.

Rogue kissed him. The collar did its job. There was no pull, no surge of his life force flowing into her, nothing.

She pulled back after that one kiss. Their eyes met and in less than a second they were kissing again with a great deal of enthusiasm and liberal use of tongue.

"Well," Jubilee said dryly. "Someone found a silver lining in all this."

"Get a room," Bobby joked.

Neither bothered to respond. They could do that any time.

Ten minutes later:

"Okay seriously, this is getting old," Bobby said. "Hello? We're prisoners here. Should be coming up with an escape plan?"

"Yeah this show's old," Jubilee added. "I need to find something else to look at here. C'mon really, do you have to be so noisy about it?"

"Ha, can you imagine Kitty freaking out?"

"Hell yes, she should have been here so we could have made fun of her."

Five more minutes later:

Gambit turned his head slightly. Rogue, denied of his lips for that moment, continued kissing his face.

"Chére?"

"Mmm?"

"How far do yo' think yo' can lean over?"

Rogue pulled back a little, frowning slightly.

"Ah dunno, why?"

Gambit leaned back but moved his lower body as close to her as he could.

"Do yo' t'ink you can pull -"

"Oh hell don't say it!" Jubilee exclaimed. "Go back to kissing already! Some things we don't need to see."

"- out my sleeve," Gambit finished giving Jubilee an odd look. "What were yo' t'inking petite?"

"Uhh, nevermind," she said, blushing and looking away from his pants.

"Your sleeve?" Rogue queried.

"My lock picks are there."

"Oooh..."

Rogue shifted herself as close to Gambit as she could, leaned over and grabbed hold of his trench coat sleeve in her mouth. It took a good deal of yanking and a few times she inadvertently let go and her head hit him in the back, but she eventually pulled the sleeve out. She then started working on extracting the lock picks from their little hidey-hole.

"What good is it going to do having your lock picks anyway?" Bobby asked. "Don't you need hands to use them?"

"Hands are easier, but yo' are talking t' a master t'ief here, Ice. I can use 'em wit' my mouth."

"Nice."

"Your mouth?" Jubilee repeated. "Oh, I get it. You just want an excuse to kiss Rogue again."

"Who needs an excuse?" Gambit smirked at her.

Finally Rogue managed to retrieve the lock picks. She sat up, relieved not to be bending over so far any more, and transferred them from her mouth to his. Which, she decided, contrary to how it might seem to witnesses or in a movie, was nowhere near as fun as it sounded.

It was then Gambit's turn to lean over. He couldn't twist himself around to unpick the locks in his own mitts, but he could reach Rogue's. It took longer than it would have if he could have used his hands, but all witnesses were rather impressed that he could do it at all, let alone in under three minutes. Gambit pulled back as Rogue's left hand was released and Rogue flexed her fingers.

"Well, that's refreshing," she said, and pulled her right hand away from the wall. "Ahh, but this hand's still locked in."

She moved her arm around in front of Gambit's face so he could pick that lock too. It took him even less time, because he knew which pick to use, and the angle was better. The second mitt was soon unlocked and Rogue's right hand was free. She held out her hand and Gambit dropped the lock picks into it. Saliva covered lock picks. Lovely. Glad she was wearing her gloves still.

"Yo' want t' use number 2," Gambit told her.

"Okay," Rogue replied and began working on picking the locks of his mitts.

"Wait... since when can you pick locks?" Bobby asked.

"Don't ask questions ta which ya don't want ta know the answers."

"Did you absorb him after all?"

Rogue paused.

"Uhh, no," she coughed. "Okay, Ah suck at this Remy."

Gambit glanced over at Jubilee.

"Dat's okay chérie. I know some other t'ings yo' can suck at too."

"Okay so I have a dirty mind, so sue me," Jubilee replied.

"Ah ha! Got it," Rogue said.

Gambit pulled his arm free.

"T'ank yo' chérie," he said.

Rogue gave him back the lock picks and he released his other hand, followed by the locks on his feet. Now free, he walked over to Bobby and Jubilee and undid their shackles also before returning to Rogue to release her feet.

"So nice to be free," Bobby said happily, rubbing his arms. "Hey, you think you can get the collars off as well?"

"Not sure I want t' experiment wit' somet'ing dat can blow your head off, mon ami," Gambit replied, sitting up next to Rogue and putting his lock picks away. "I'll have a look, but I probably won't try anyt'ing. Just 'cause I like high stakes don't mean I'm willing t' gamble lives."

"Yeah, I'm all for staying alive," Jubilee nodded.

Gambit inspected the collar around Rogue's neck. He found what he thought was the keyhole in the back and shook his head.

"Don't have anyt'ing that'll fit. We'll just have t' kick butt the conventional way when we land, no?" he said putting his arms around Rogue. "And now dat the business side is over..."

Rogue smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him. With her arms around his neck she pulled off her gloves, letting them drop to the floor before touching his face. It felt so strange to actually touch skin after so long. Her fingers brushed over his stubble, her fingers taking in the sharpness of it that was usually so dulled by her gloves. She felt Gambit's hands slipping up slowly beneath her jacket and shirt and run over her stomach and thought she was going to cry.

Rogue then decided that the jacket really wasn't necessary and took that off as well. Gambit followed suit and took off his trench coat.

"Umm, don't forget you have witnesses okay?" Jubilee said a little nervously.

Almost as an afterthought, Gambit removed his shirt. He put his hands on Rogue's back and guided her backwards so that she was lying on the narrow bench, one leg either side. He moved one hand to her stomach while the other he used to support his weight on the bench. Rogue started discovering what it was like to feel a well-built masculine chest with her bare hands. The kissing never stopped.

"Okay, I admit to having looked up porn," Bobby said as this was happening. "But I don't really want a live show okay?"

Simultaneously, Rogue and Gambit stuck their middle fingers up at him.

"You two deserve each other," Bobby muttered.

* * *

Earlier, back at the mansion:

"It's about time you woke up Wolverine," Magneto said.

Logan grunted.

"Oh good you're awake," said Professor Xavier. "We were just discussing the situation."

Logan looked around then. It wasn't just Magneto and the Professor in the room, but Storm, Sabretooth, Pryo, Avalanche and Toad.

"We were ambushed."

"Yes. By Genoshan slavers."

Logan growled and lunched from his chair towards Magneto.

"You set us up!"

Magneto merely lifted his hand and Logan was stuck mid air.

"Now is not the time, Logan. What matters is getting Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee and Gambit back. Kitty and Pete will be back soon, they can join us. I will use Cerebro to pin point their location."

"Convenient timing," Storm said sourly, with a glare at Magneto.

"Yeah, so what do we need the Brotherhood for?" Logan demanded.

"As I was telling Charles, the situation in Genosha is dire. You're going to need all the help you can get."

"They got our friends into this mess, Logan, they can damn well help get them out again," Storm said.

"What? So they can set us up again? I don't think so."

"The decision has already been made, Logan. We need to work together to resolve this situation," the Professor sighed. "Erik, I really wish you had approached me directly, instead of setting up my people."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Charles. I did what had to be done."

"I don't appreciate my hand being forced."

"And I couldn't risk you sitting by and doing nothing while our people are exploited."

"I wouldn't have merely sat by Erik -"

"But you would have dithered. Enough, this discussion is pointless. As soon as Shadowcat and Colossus have returned we shall depart."

"Agreed. And for the record, as far as I'm concerned this is a rescue operation only. As soon as our people are safe we're leaving."

"Even when -" Magento began, outraged.

"My first concern is for their health and safety. I'm sure they will have plenty of first hand experience by then to give us a full briefing on the situation. If the Brotherhood decides to stay, that's fine. Also remember, Erik, this is a school. Most of the people living here are children, and we're short staffed as it is. If we do decide to join the effort, I don't know how much assistance we can give you."

* * *

**AN:** Okay, I admit to being inspired by the episode of the 90s X-men cartoon called "Slave Island". *shifty eyes*. It just seemed like too good an idea to waste! Hehehe.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When the cargo bay doors opened and the guards stepped inside, they saw what they were expecting. Four mutants chained to the walls. Four men stepped inside to release the mutants and got the surprise of their life when they were attacked by they who should have been immobilised.

The fight that ensured was shorter than any of the X-men anticipated. Sure, they succeeded in disabling the four, but once they got out of the plane their collars starting emitting some kind of pulse around their necks. The pain was enough to drive them to their knees and though it only lasted a moment, it disabled them long enough for the guards to immobilise them again on the truck.

This time there were guards sitting in with them as they travelled to their final destination: an enslaved mutant construction crew laying down tracks for a new high-speed rail system. Once they arrived, they were lined up outside the truck.

"Let's see," said the official with the clipboard. "Ahh, Jubilee. Emits fireworks."

He looked her over.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find a use for you. Gambit. Bio-kinetic charging. Kinetic... I don't suppose that means telekinetic by any chance?"

Gambit said nothing. The official sighed and pressed a button. The pain surged again for a moment.

"I asked a question, slave."

"I can't move t'ings wit' my mind," he coughed out.

"Hmm," the official looked over his notes. "It says here you can make things explode, so I can work with that. We do have a tunnel to grind through a mountain coming up. Iceman. Well, the name says it all, doesn't it? I suppose we can use you to keep things refrigerated."

Bobby pursed his lips but said nothing.

"And Rogue. Power borrower. Anyone without powers gets put into a coma. Works through the skin."

_"Odd,"_ Rogue thought to herself. _"Why would I be described as a 'power borrower' and not a 'life stealer' or something more accurate?"_

"Well, I suppose we can use you as a reserve in case of accidents or something. Now, listen here, for now you will be joining the crew as labourers. We have a lot of track to construct and we're behind schedule. Your powers will be turned on while you're working. This should not be seen as an opportunity to escape: we will not hesitate to turn the pain on or detonate your collars as we see fit. What's more, any escape attempt will endanger your fellow slaves - we will not hesitate to punish them as well. And Rogue? I'd better not see any trails of comatose guards."

The official nodded to the guards, who escorted them to the rest of the mutant labourers who were busy digging. They were given terse instructions, handed shovels and 'encouraged' to start working.

"We're not seriously doing this?" Bobby complained.

"What choice do we have, mon ami?" Gambit asked. "One, he did lay out the consequences fo' escape quite clearly -"

"So you're saying we shouldn't even try?"

"Deux, we don't know where we are. What's more, if we did managed t' escape, say steal one o' their trucks, dere's only one way we could go, really. Dis place be rather barren. Dey'd probably catch up wit' us before we got t' the airport no? And the airport be the only way we can get back home. Trois, if escape be dat easy, dese folks would have already done it."

"Four," Jubilee added. "I'm not inclined to leave and not free everyone else as well."

"D'accord. For now we wait, we watch, we learn. We look for the flaws in the system, den we make plans."

They were hard at work for sometime before a tall, arrogant man with a blue collar ornamented with red abruptly teleported behind Jubilee. He put his hands on her waist and she squealed in fright. He chuckled and turned her around.

"Hello little one," he smirked at her.

"Get off me," Jubilee demanded.

She stomped on his foot and was about to jerk her knee into his groin when he teleported again A moment later, Jubilee was reaching for her neck, sinking to the ground as the pain setting kicked in.

"Hey, leave her -" Bobby began, only to find himself felled to the ground by pain himself.

The teleporter chuckled as he turned the pain setting off again.

"I'm Trans," he informed them, before grabbing Jubilee's arm with one hand and trailed the other up her side. "And if you don't want to spend your time here miserable, you're going to have to be very, very nice to me."

Jubilee spat at him. Trans sighed and hit the pain button again.

"Naughty, naughty," he said, pushing her down on the ground. "Jubilee right? You know, you're just not starting things off right, girl."

Jubilee lashed out at him. She hadn't been doing combat training for years without learning how to defend herself. Once again the shock of pain sent her reeling.

"You'll learn," he smirked at her.

He teleported then and appeared by Rogue's side.

"And you're Rogue right? The power-borrower?"

He grabbed her and pulled her close.

"Ever teleport before?"

"Yes," Rogue replied as blandly as she could manage.

Put off by the impassive expression on Rogue's face, Trans attempted to get a reaction by feeling her up, roughly moving his hands over her clothes where they definitely did not belong. Gambit clenched his jaw, glowering at his back, and tried really, really hard to resist the urge to take to Trans with the shovel. He gripped the shovel so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"Ya done yet? Ah kinda have work ta do."

Trans hit the pain button and Rogue fell but blatantly refused to cry out. He knelt down beside her as the pain subsided and patted her on the head.

"We'll talk again later," he said and teleported away.

"Chére -" Gambit began.

"Best way ta deal with his sort is not ta react," Rogue interrupted, her voice still bland. "He'll get bored eventually."

"Or he'll take it as a challenge."

"Ah don't much like it either. Ya okay Jubes?"

"Yeah. How can you just stand there and take it?" she asked in disgust.

Rogue knelt down beside her.

"Because by not reactin' Ah'm not giving him what he wants," she told her placidly, although her breathing started to get heavier. "He likes it, Jubes. He likes it when ya fight back and and scream and try ta get away. He enjoys breaking ya down and hurtin' ya. He gets off on it."

"Uhh, Rogue?" Jubilee swallowed, not liking the expression on her face. "You're scaring me."

Rogeu shuddered and shook her head, the alien expression gone.

"Oh, crap... Ah'm sorry, Ah'm sorry, Ahm sorry," she said, standing up again and putting her hand to her head. "Sorry. Ah just, Ah... Trans reminds me of one of muh psyches. He gets excited... crap, Ah'm sorry."

"Which one?" Bobby asked with a frown.

Rogue shot him a look.

"This particular nasty piece of work is a rapist by the name of Antonio, and Ah _don't_ like ta talk about him."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

There was an awkward silence.

"Did you notice his collar was different?" Jubilee asked.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "I'm t'inking he must be an upper class slave, or a slave with privileges or a collaborator or somet'ing like dat. Besides, he has the authority t' use one o' dose pain thingys."

"We're fresh meat, aren't we Rogue?"

"Probably. In which case ya need ta be extra careful not ta attract his attention. We're slaves here, and if he's allowed ta play around with us girls..."

"Fuck."

"Exactly."

"You sure you just want to hang around and watch Gambit?" Bobby demanded.

"If yo' have a plan, mon ami, I'd be more than happy t' hear it," Gambit replied gravely.

* * *

Night fell. Their powers were turned off and they were herded into a couple of trailers. As soon as their powers were shut off, Rogue immediately sought out Gambit's hand, but as the trailers were fitted with small, individual cells, they were soon forced to part.

Gambit sat against the wall of his cell, his thumbs pressed against the bridge of his nose as he reviewed what they had learnt today. He'd spoken to other slaves, tried to make his queries discreet. He'd been right about Trans being a collaborator, and he was definitely nervous about Rogue and Jubilee's well being given what he had heard. He needed a plan and fast.

* * *

Gambit was watchful the following morning when they were roused from their 'beds'. He took Rogue's hand as they walked out of the cells, his eyes looking for the official who would be turning their powers on. He turned to Rogue and ran his finger over her cheek.

"Stealing a moment?" she smiled.

"Somet'ing like," he murmured back.

He kissed her gently, holding her close as their powers were turned back on.

.

_She - no, he, Gambit - scooted out from underneath the panel._

_"I got it," he said smugly._

_"All right! Let's fly dis baby," said Henri._

_He stood, sat down in the chair for the co-pilot, and with a grin to his brother and Emil, they activated the military jet._

_.  
_

_He hoisted himself up over the balcony and caught the eyes of the beautiful blonde in the adjoining room._

_"Remy?" Bella Donna exclaimed, opening the door and coming outside. "What are yo' doing here?"_

_He leaned in and kissed her deeply, his hand caressing her face._

_"I couldn't resist the chance t' see yo'."_

_"Reckless boy. Julien would kill yo' if he knew."_

_"Julien ain't here, ma chére."_

_.  
_

_He landed on his feet, paused and looked around. He grinned, then promptly wiped the smile off his face._

_"Ain't an escape 'til you're free and clear, LeBeau," he reminded himself._

_Sticking to the shadows at first, he made quick his departure from Stryker's island._

_.  
_

_"Are you Remy LeBeau?"_

_He caught his playing cards in his hands._

_"Do I owe yo' money?"_

_"No."_

_"Den Remy LeBeau I am."_

_He took off his hat, looked up at Logan and gestured to the empty chair._

_.  
_

_He stared down at Julien's body and swallowed hard. On the one hand, he was amazed he'd actually defeated the trained assassin. Not to mention relieved. On the other, he felt sick to his stomach. He hadn't intended to charge that dagger when he threw it at Julien. Didn't mean for it to explode when it sunk into his upper chest._

_Now they were debating what was to be done to him. Forget that Julien had challenged him to a duel to the death on his _wedding day_, he'd killed an assassin. The Assassins guild didn't like that, not one bit._

_.  
_

_He regarded the man before him. Why he felt the need to dress like a theatrical vampire, he didn't know. But he was prepared to deal with a few eccentricities if he had to._

_"Can yo' help me?"_

_"Yes, Gambit," said Mister Sinister. "I do believe I can."_

_.  
_

_He climbed to his feet, although they threatened to collapse beneath him. He couldn't let them get away with this slaughter. They were children! If he'd only known this was where he'd been leading them._

_He leaned against the sewer wall and looked inside. Bodies strewn everywhere. Perhaps it was a fool thing to do, to think he could actually stop all six marauders, but he had to try._

_He stumbled forward. Sabretooth had gotten him good._

_"Heeelp... me..." whimpered a still small voice._

_"Coming petite, I'm coming."_

_.  
_

_"I can't seem to find my lighter, can I borrow yours?"_

_He put his cigarette back into his mouth and turned to the blonde he'd just slept with, seeing a cigarette already hanging from her lips. He touched the end of it with his finger and ignited it with a light charge. Her eyes widened._

_"Neat trick."_

_"I thought so."_

_"What else can you do?"_

_He reached over and put one arm around her back, holding her close so she couldn't jerk away unexpectedly. His other hand he put on her breast and charged her negligee beneath his skin. The magenta glow lit up brightly, shining through his fingers, indicating the high intensity of the charge. Were she to pull away now, before he could take back the charge, the resulting explosion would kill them both, take out her apartment and probably most of her neighbours as well._

_She gasped, the cigarette falling from her lips as she clutched onto his shoulders and he allowed himself a smile at her whimper. Slowly he removed the charge and dropped his cigarette. As he stamped it out, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear:_

_"Round deux?"_

_She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hauled him back into the bedroom._

_.  
_

_He smirked as his drinking partner collapsed. There was an extensive line up of glasses on the table._

_"Guess I win," he said to the watching crowd._

_"How are you still conscious?" one random guy demanded. "No one's ever out drunk Kenny."_

_"Really? Dat's interesting mon ami. Must be the first, no? How about another round t' celebrate my victory?"_

_.  
_

_He watched as the guard continued on his rounds, then slipped silently down the rope. He retrieved the forgery he had prepared earlier and switched it with the original in its display below. He locked the original in place in his trench coat, then hauled himself back up the rope and through the new hole in the roof of the museum._

_.  
_

_"Rogue," he breathed into the ear of the brunette in bed with him._

_Kate giggled, kissing his neck._

_"Rogue? That's new."_

_He forced down the horror he felt at his slip. He'd never done that before._

_"I'm sure I could t'ink o' some more names, if yo' don't like dat one, cherie."_

_.  
_

More and more memories flooded through Rogue's mind, overlapped with his thoughts. Rogue pushed him off, then saw a magenta glow around her hands. Hurriedly she pulled her gloves off, tossing them up into the air where they exploded as Gambit slumped to the ground.

Almost immediately pain forced Rogue to the ground, clutching her neck.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The official who had introduced them the day before was a man by the name of Wilson, and it was in his office as mutant resources coordinator that Rogue found herself.

"Ah can't control muh power," Rogue was saying. "So that means Ah can't touch anyone without hurtin' them. Re- Gambit was just y'know, tryin' ta steal a kiss before our powers got turned on again. Ya can see how ill-timed that was. And then Ah got his powers and my gloves got charged and Ah'm sorry about all the fuss."

Wilson sat back in his chair.

"And now you want to defect?"

"You can turn muh powers off. Ya have no idea... no idea at all just what Ah would do ta touch someone without riskin' killin' them. Ah'll do whatever ya want if Ah can just have Gambit in muh room at night."

If Trans was allowed to take slaves back to his bed, why couldn't she? Wilson snorted as he appraised her.

"You've been here barely a day, hardly long enough to prove your loyalty. We don't make deals lightly."

"What do ya want me ta do?"

He considered carefully.

"This power borrowing ability of yours. How long does it last?"

"It depends on how long Ah hold on, and how powerful the mutant is. General rule of thumb is a minute for every second Ah hold on."

"Interesting," he said, tapping his fingers on the desk.

Abruptly he made his decision and pressed the intercom.

"Send in Trans," he said, before pulling out pen and paper and beginning to write.

It only took a minute for the mutant to teleport into the office and by then Wilson was done with the letter.

"Deliver this to Major Crossland immediately, and don't come back without Ms Marvel."

Trans glanced over at Rogue speculatively.

"Yes sir," he said and disappeared.

* * *

About an hour later, Rogue swallowed as she looked down at the sedated woman in front of her.

"Her name is Ms Marvel," said Wilson. "Her powers are flight, invulnerability and super strength. Were she more co-operative this project would be finished by now. Unfortunately, the collar does not effect her invulnerability, so we keep her under gas sedation and use her for experimentation in improving the collar design. If not for that purpose we'd be using poison gas. Borrow her powers. You're going to be doing some heavy lifting today."

"Ah may have ta come back multiple times," Rogue said nervously. "If Ah hold on too long Ah may kill her and then there would be no powers left for me ta absorb."

"Come back as often as you need to. You will be given clearance. If there is significant improvement in our schedule today, we'll upgrade your collar to level two, and you may have the partner of your choice in your own quarters. Bear in mind, mutant, we don't hand out such things lightly. We expect your full co-operation. Remember that both the pain setting and the explosive is higher, and we will not hesitate to reward you with such should you ever try to betray us."

"Why would Ah do that, when you're givin' me muh life back?"

Wilson snorted and Rogue reached forward to touch the blonde-haired woman.

_"Forgive me,"_ she thought to herself.

* * *

Bobby looked up as the shadow passed them over.

"Is that Rogue?" he gaped.

Gambit and Jubilee looked up.

"Since when can she fly?"

"More t' the point petite," Gambit said slowly. "Since when can she lift those kinds o' weights?"

All three of them were give a brief zap of pain by the foreman.

"Stop staring and get back to work."

They bristled, but did what they were told.

"Guess they have Rogue absorbing people," Bobby said grimly.

"Oui," Gambit murmured.

* * *

"Good work today, Rogue," said Wilson as he approached her, his hands gloved. "You've earned this."

He put the key into the lock of her collar, and it released easily. The old collar was removed and a new plain blue collar was put in its place. He put the key back into his pocket.

"And now, to show you to your new quarters. I'm sure you'll find them far more comfortable than the cell you had last night."

"Thank ya," Rogue replied.

The collar was activated, turning her powers off and Wilson walked beside her out of the office and towards another trailer. As they walked, they passed the rest of the mutant slaves who were being directed to their cells.

Jubilee grabbed at Bobby as they walked past.

"Bobby," she hissed, pointing. "Rogue."

Bobby looked up and frowned.

"Is that a blue collar?"

They looked at each other.

"She wouldn't... would she?" Jubilee swallowed.

Bobby shook his head.

"It must mean something else," he decided. "Rogue would never betray us."

"Gambit?" called one of the slavers.

Gambit jerked his head up.

"Oui?" he answered tersely.

A guard moved to his side and grabbed his arm.

"This be your lucky night," he smirked. "The girl asked especially for you."

Gambit said nothing as they led him toward the trailer that Wilson had just escorted Rogue to. Bobby and Jubilee looked at each other.

"You were saying?" Jubliee said.

"I don't believe it," Bobby replied shaking his head. "I don't believe it."

* * *

The door was shut behind Gambit as he stepped inside. He raised his eyebrows, noting the comparative luxury of the room, given the tiny, cold little cell he'd slept in the night before. Rogue was sitting on the bed, her head in her hands. Her jacket was slung over the back of a nearby chair and her gloves on the table.

"Well, dey certainly know how t' treat their collaborators right, huh chérie?"

Rogue looked up at him and a nervous smile crossed her face.

"Gambit," she said cheerfully.

She raced across and he enveloped her in his arms as she kissed him thoroughly.

"Chére -" Gambit began but Rogue put one finger on his lips.

"Trans took a great deal of pleasure in informin' me that the walls have eyes," she told him, scratching behind her ear.

Gambit decided to interpret that as meaning the walls had ears as well.

"I see."

_"Perverted bastard,"_ Rogue wanted to say, but instead asked: "How's everyone doing?"

"They're fine."

"Okay good."

She really wanted to make sure that Jubilee hadn't been harassed by Trans, but was afraid of mentioning her name out loud in case he _was_ watching and got ideas. Rogue did have the misfortune to have to interact with him but fortunately was now 'immune' to his unwanted advances. She did not, however, want him to take it out on Jubilee.

"We have dinner," Rogue went on.

"So I see. Certainly smells better dan the slop dey gave us in the cells last night, no?"

"Ha, yeah."

They sat down at the table. As Gambit picked up his fork he studied Rogue cautiously. Despite her chipper demeanour he could tell she was a nervous wreck.

"Saw yo' flying t'day."

"Yeah. That was kinda fun."

"And lifting and hauling loads I didn't t'ink Pete could manage."

"Yep. They uhh, they had me absorb this mutant. Car- Ms Marvel," Rogue explained.

If they didn't know she could siphon information she wasn't going to volunteer it. That meant no referring to Ms Marvel by her real name, and no chatter about what she'd seen in either Ms Marvel's or Gambit's heads that day.

"So she's a flier and got super strength?"

"Yeah. And she's invulnerable to boot."

Gambit reached over, took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it. It was actually kind of strange to touch her bare hand. Even stranger was the fact that it was he who was the one wearing gloves. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but whatever the cause of her anxiety (and he thought he knew what it might be, or part of it anyway) it was probably not something they should discuss here.

"Sounds like someone hit the mother load, no?"

Rogue smiled faintly.

"Powers haven't worn off from the last time Ah absorbed her. So Ah'm still invulnerable at the moment."

"Wait... your powers aren't turned off?" Gambit frowned.

"Oh... no the collar just doesn't work on that particular power, is all. Not fool proof apparently, although, Ah don't think Ah'm supposed ta be tellin' ya that."

"It'll be our little secret, no?"

"Yeah."

They finished dinner, which Gambit decided was substandard at best (although he didn't say that aloud). Rogue pushed her plate aside and took a deep breath before standing up. She couldn't believe she was about to do this. It was cheesy and unsettling, but she didn't have Gambit's gift for sleight of hand and could think of no other way to do it. Besides, after the speech she gave Wilson earlier that day she had pretty much committed herself.

"So..." Gambit began.

Rogue silenced him by kissing him and straddled his lap. Gambit wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling her tremble beneath his hands.

"Gotcha something," she said as she pulled away slightly.

She hesitated for a moment before lifting off her shirt, and without meeting his eyes leaned in and kissed his cheek repeatedly. As her lips neared his ear she whispered:

"Don't try with the pain on," she told him, making a conscious effort not to use the letter 's', which she knew was easiest to overhear when you whisper. "It'll kill ya both."

Gambit looked down, and didn't bother to hide his smile as he saw the key nestled in her bra. He slipped his hands in and palmed the key before hiding it in his trench coat. Gambit lingered a moment before moving his hands back to her waist and held her while he stood up, then removed his trench coat, letting it fall to the ground. The kissing didn't stop as they led each other to the bed. Shoes were moved first, then Gambit's shirt and gloves, and they slipped under the covers. What was done under covers the cameras - wherever exactly they were - couldn't see. With any luck the covers and the low voices should keep their conversation from being overheard too much.

With the sheet pulled over their heads, Gambit pulled Rogue close. It felt so good to hold her, but these weren't exactly the conditions he had in mind and he _knew_ Rogue was in a rare state.

"So, chérie," he said quietly as he kissed her nose. "What now?"

Rogue paused, having not expected him to ask her that.

"Ah don't know," she admitted.

"We don't have t' do anyt'ing," he assured her. "Just lie together in partial nakedness."

She giggled softly, resting her head on his upper arm.

"It's up to yo'. Yo' summoned me, remember?" he added, feeling her relax.

"Mmm... what if you had summoned me?"

"Never make yo' do anyt'ing you're not comfortable wit', ma chére."

Rogue was silent for a time and lifted her hand to lightly touch his chest.

"Ah think that... Ah had an opportunity like this once before, and nothing ever came of it," she said slowly. "Ah don't want to waste my chance this time, but Ah don't..."

She bit her bottom lip, not knowing how to finish the sentence. Gambit kissed her tenderly.

"Not the time or the place, chérie. Not for dat. Should be done properly, and dis ain't it."

Rogue smiled, although the smile faded quickly.

"Things have changed between us, haven't they?"

"Oui."

"Ah'm sorry."

"I'm not."

"This can't last. Not when Ah'm untouchable."

"Dis is just the bonus round, chére," Gambit replied. "All the good stuff happens outside o' the bedroom."

"Bonus round?" Rogue repeated.

"Oui. And speaking as an authority on the subject, relationships centred on the bonus round don't work out. Not in the long run. Love is an adventure, chérie. It's full o' risks and dangerous territory. Never knowing how you're going t' survive the next obstacle. Yo' need each other t' get through and yo' keep going because at the end of the day it's worth the climb."

"Love?"

Gambit smiled, and caressed her cheek.

"So, I'll just take the next big risk, shall I? I love yo'."

Rogue closed her eyes, turned her head and kissed his fingers.

"Ah love you too," she said finally. "Ah wish Ah didn't. Ah liked being friends. Ah liked not being afraid of hurtin' or getting hurt."

"Dat's all part o' the adventure too, ma chére. Just being friends is easy. But dis? When you've got your heart on the line you've got everyt'ing t' lose. The stakes are higher but the rewards greater. I t'ink it'll be worth it."

"Always the gambler, huh?"

"Low stakes might be safer, but dey aren't nearly as much fun. What say yo' chérie? Care t' join me in the adventure o' a lifetime?"

"Y'know, with us half dressed under the covers like this, the whole night ahead of us, this could get really awkward if Ah say 'no'."

"Yo' have dis bad habit o' toying wit' me, chére. I've shown yo' my hand, I think it's time yo' showed me yours."

Rogue lifted her head, pressed her lips to his and kissed him passionately.

"I can take dat as a yes?"

"Yes, yes you can. But Remy?"

"Oui Roguey?"

"Do you really have ta make the poker analogies?"

"Oui. Yo' should hear the one I've got about havin' an ace in the hole."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Jubilee save Gambit a dark look as he joined the rest of the labourers the following morning.

"So," she said once they were back at work. "What's it like sleeping with a traitor?"

"How do yo' know about Abby?" Gambit inquired, his eyes not on Jubilee, but on the guards.

"Abby? Who's Abby?"

"Oh, so it _was_ a trick question?"

"No! I meant Rogue."

"Ahh. Well, petite, I doubt that Rogue would appreciate me divulging the details o' her personal life," Gambit replied, discreetly taking the odd-shaped key from his pocket.

"You'd screw anyone, wouldn't you?" Jubilee practically snarled at him as he approached her.

Gambit held up the key. Jubilee frowned.

"What's that?"

"The reason why yo' owe Rogue an apology," he replied coolly as he inserted the key and unlocked her collar.

"I knew it!" Bobby grinned.

"Hush," Gambit frowned at him. "Yo' look overexcited and the guards'll know somet'ing's up."

He unlocked Bobby's collar and then his own before passing it onto the nearest slave.

"Try not t' let them see yo'," he advised quietly. "We need t' unlock as many people as possible - everyone if we can - before showing our hand, no?"

The mutant nodded.

"Don't try to unlock a collar wit' the pain setting on; it's fatal."

* * *

Kitty rested her hand in Pete's as they sat together in the Blackbird. It was unusually crowded and Kitty was somewhat annoyed that the Brotherhood outnumbered the X-men.

The Professor, still at the mansion, had pin pointed the location of their missing friends and had programmed the co-ordinates into the computer. Now it was just a matter of flying there.

Kitty looked over at Logan and Sabretooth, who were glaring at each other.

This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

Rogue took to the air after absorbing Ms Marvel again. She hated it, hated absorbing her. She had to hold on too long, touch her too often. The powers had been taking longer and longer to wear off, and her voice was getting louder and louder. Worse, her powers still hadn't worn off from yesterday: she was still absorbing Ms Marvel - at her psyche's insistence - at regular intervals to avoid arousing suspicion.

Would that Gambit had come up with a different plan, but he wasn't to know, and it was too late now. Even then Ms Marvel was more than happy to help Rogue and had been able to provide her was a great deal of intel, especially on the collars. Like the fail safe and the significance of the signal tower not far to the south.

As Rogue flew over to her work site she kept an eye out on the other slaves. They were fairly widespread and Rogue was somewhat anxious about them all getting their collars unlocked. She wished she could tell how far the unlocking had progressed, but all she could do was wait. In the distance she could see one other person in the air: a green haired woman who went by the name of Polaris, who was busy fitting the steel tracks in place.

Rogue smiled to herself. Who would have thought that Gambit teaching her how to pick pockets would actually turn out to be useful after all? She definitely did not share his interest in stealing, but had consented to the late night sessions in the danger room just because she liked spending the time with him. Yet if he hadn't taught her there was no way she would have been able to slip the key out of Wilson's pocket the night before.

She landed and began removing obstacles from the projected path of the railway line. They were getting close to the mountain they were planning on putting the tunnel through and her job this morning was to clear the path all the way there. After that she was going to be stuck transporting supplies. Rogue was busy at work for about half an hour and was just bending over for the next load when Trans teleported behind her.

"Boss wants to see you," he said smugly.

Rogue straightened up and casually turned around. As she did she looked beyond him and noted the increased activity of the guards and the mutants. Well now, did this mean they'd been caught?

"Ah'm just about done here," she said as if nothing was amiss. "Ah'll be there shortly."

"Oh no," Trans said reaching for her. "He wants to see you now. Seems he's missing a certain key of his."

Rogue skittered out of his way.

"Can't teleport me if ya can't touch me."

Trans teleported. Rogue moved.

"You can't hurt me if you can't touch me either," he retorted, annoyed at having missed her on his re-entry.

"Should make things interestin' now, huh?"

He teleported again, Rogue jumped away and grinned at him on his reappearance.

"Predictable much?"

Trans glared at her. He teleported again, but not to where she was now, but where he expected her to move to. Rogue, however, flew straight up in the air instead and took advantage of his confusion to disappear from sight before he remembered she could fly.

Ahh so the rebellion had indeed begun. From her vantage point she could see the mutants turning on the guards, But... what was this? She pursed her lips and flew down to where Gambit, Bobby and Jubilee were fighting alongside the other mutants.

"Chére, glad yo' could join us," Gambit said cheerfully as he disabled one of the guards.

"Can't stay for long. Not all the collars have been unlocked," Rogue told him. "The ones who still have their collars on are being pained. If it's sustained too long it'll kill them."

"Merde."

"Yeah, that's what Ah thought. Look, see that signal tower over there? Amongst other things it acts as a relay for the collars' signal. If Ah take that out it'll break the collar communications line, so that's where Ah'm headed. Don't forget about the fail safe," she warned him. "Ya try ta unlock the collar with the pain setting on, it'll not only trigger the explosive but overload it and you'll both die."

"I remembered and passed the message on. Good luck, Rogue."

"You too," she smiled at him and blew a kiss as she took to the air.

"While she's doing that, I think we should try and get the main controls," Bobby said.

Jubilee shot fireworks in the face of the nearest guard.

"Shouldn't be too hard. Taking these guys down is like childs play."

"Mebbe for us who're trained petite, but what about the other mutants? 'Specially those with non-combative powers?"

"Point taken."

* * *

Rogue had almost made the tower when two things happened at once. Her powers shut off and the worst possible pain she could imagine start shooting through her system. Screaming, Rogue dropped a hundred feet to the ground and landed hard and badly. Were it not for the fact that the collar couldn't effect Ms Marvel's invulnerability, the fall alone would have killed her.

Trans teleported to her side and smirked down at her.

"Can't get away that easy, girl."

* * *

The door to the cell trailer was slammed shut.

"That's all the guards," Jubilee said. "Now just admin staff, huh? Where's Remy?"

"He's gone with the others into the admin," Bobby said. "They should be able to take down everyone there easy, and hopefully get those main controls."

Jubilee looked towards the group of collared mutants, shaking, jerking, crying out from the pain still being emitted.

"Well, I hope they find them soon, or Rogue shuts down the tower," she said gravely. "I don't know how much longer they can last."

Bobby shook his head.

'Neither do I. C'mon, we'd better start tending the injured."

* * *

"Intense isn't it? Pity about being invulnerable right now. If you weren't you'd be dead already," said Trans, smirking down at Rogue. "Pain's higher with the second level collar, so you die faster than the rest of the riff raff."

Rogue ignored him and concentrated on closing the distance to the base of the signal tower. It hurt so much. But lying there and taking it was just as agonising as moving, so with a heavy sweat pouring down her face, her whole body shaking, Rogue dragged herself along the ground.

"Where do you think you're going, Rogue? What do you think you're going to accomplish? You have no powers to aid you. You're not going to disable the tower," Trans jeered, casually following her. "Why don't you just go back to screaming? Or have you made your voice hoarse already?"

* * *

Gambit got into Wilson's office to see the man sitting in his chair with a smug smile on his face.

"Reinforcements are already on their way mutant, and because of you and your little girlfriend trying to play the hero, half your fellow mutants will be dead in a matter of minutes from overexposure to the pain setting. I've destroyed the master controls by the way. You can't turn it off."

"Well, dat's a real shame," Gambit replied. "Yo' see, I have a collar here, and I'm wondering what might happen if I put it on yo'."

The colour drained from Wilson's face.

* * *

"I'm impressed," said Trans. "You made it. Bravo. Now what?"

Rogue continued to drag herself across the ground until she reached the shaft in the centre of the tower. Her destination reached, Rogue allowed herself to stop. Her breathing was laboured. Trans knelt down beside her.

"So close and yet so far."

Rogue twisted around, placing her neck against the edge of the shaft. She summoned all the energy she could and banged the back of her neck against it.

"That's not going to make the pain go away, Rogue," Trans said sounding amused.

"Did... you know..." Rogue panted as she continued to bang her neck, specifically the back of the collar against the shaft. "These things... have a... tamper... control?"

"Of course. Activating it will make the explosive go - " Trans broke off and swore.

Whether he teleported in time, Rogue didn't know. There was a blinding flash as she triggered the explosive. White filled her vision, and then it was black.

* * *

Those at the construction site looked up at the sound and sight of the explosion, which was closely followed by a second blast. Moments later the pain setting was released and there were cries of relief from the victims. Polaris, who had the key, immediately started unlocking the collars.

"She did it," Jubilee said delightedly.

"And not before time too," said Bobby. "Any longer and we would have had some serious casualties."

"Is everyone ready to go? We need to get out of here before those military reinforcements arrive."

"Not wit'out Rogue," Gambit said, watching the skies.

"No, of course not," Bobby nodded. "Hey, shouldn't she be flying back by now?"

"Dat's what I was t'inking."

They looked at each other. Bobby turned into ice and started creating a slide.

"Wanna ride?" he asked Gambit.

"Like I'd let yo' go wit'out me."

"Yeah, I'll just stay here and hold down the fort," Jubilee said blandly as they left without her.

She watched them, then turned back to her fellow freed slaves. But before she could get back to work, something black and flying through the skies from the north caught her eyes.

"Don't tell me the military's here already."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Bobby whistled as they approached the site of what used to be a signal tower.

"How on earth did Rogue manage this?" he said aloud. "I mean, I know we saw an explosion and everything, but to be honest, I thought she was just going to use that super strength of hers to wreck the joint."

"Yo' and me both, mon ami," Gambit said grimly.

The slide reached the base and Bobby returned to his normal state.

"Rogue?" Gambit called.

"You don't suppose she's buried do you?"

"We look."

"Pyro would love this," Bobby said as he went through the debris. "What is that burnt smell anyway?"

"Somet'ing burnt?" Gambit suggested.

"Oh ha ha. I think it's stronger over here -" Bobby broke off and gagged.

Beneath the piece of light debris he just lifted was a gruesome red splatter of something that smelled distastefully of cooked meat. Bobby swore and backed off, his hand to his mouth as he resisted the urge to vomit.

"It can't be her..." he said, shaking his head in denial. "Please tell me it's not her."

Gambit looked at Bobby, then at the horrific mess grimly.

"No," he said, his voice thick. "No, Rogue's alive."

"How can you be so sure? Not that, y'know, I'm arguing with you. I want her to be alive still, I just..." Bobby trailed off.

"Rogue's invulnerable."

The look Bobby gave Gambit was one of sheer relief.

"Of course she is. Right. I knew that. You told me. Okay, okay good."

Gambit gingerly lifted away more of the debris near the splatter, resisting the urge to be sick himself. Then his eyes lit up as they fell onto another body, naked, hairless and white.

"Rogue?"

Bobby looked at him and together they pulled away more of the debris, a second wind filling them as they created a path to her. As soon as he was able, Gambit knelt by her side, one hand feeling for a pulse while the other caressed her cheek. Invulnerable or not, it didn't stop him from being worried.

"Chére... yo' awake in there?"

Rogue's eyes fluttered open. She smiled faintly.

"Remy."

"Dieu soit loué! You're alive!" ["Thanks be to God!"]

"Mmm... don't feel much like it. That damn thing _hurt_."

Gambit helped her to sit up and put her into his trench coat while Bobby discreetly looked away.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Mostly. Yo' took out the tower just in time. But they've got military on their way here, so we really have t' go."

"Erm," Bobby cut in. "You might want to carry her, Remy. The ice is cold."

"What a clever observation dere, Bobby. Imagine ice being cold," Gambit grinned at him as he picked up Rogue.

"I know. Shocking concept huh?"

Bobby turned himself into ice and created a new ice slide back to the construction site. As they approached they could see a large black object in the makeshift compound that hadn't been there when they left.

"Hey, is that the Blackbird?" Bobby asked.

"Looks like it."

"Woohoo!"

"Ah wouldn't start cheerin' too soon, ya'll," Rogue said, having a view of what was arriving from behind. "We got incoming."

* * *

"... and then the signal tower blew up and we were able to free everyone," Jubilee was explaining to the new arrivals. "But we didn't see Rogue flying back, so Bobby and Remy went to check on her. They should be back soon."

"That looks like them to me," said Pyro, pointing. "And they're bringing friends."

X-men, Brotherhood and Genoshan alike turned around. Bobby's slide was closing the distance between them, but right on their tails were the Genoshan air force.

"Polaris," said Magneto. "I believe you said you had power over magnetism, also?"

"Yeah."

"Then perhaps between the two of us, we can take care of this small irritation."

"It'll be my pleasure," said the green-haired mutant grimly.

While Bobby shifted back to human as he stood on solid ground, Magneto and Polaris grabbed hold of the military planes as they took to the air. Logan crossed his arms.

"Well, unless we get some jumpers this ain't gonna be much of a battle," he muttered before his eyes fell on Rogue's under dressed body in Gambit's arms. "Rogue? What the hell happened to you?"

Rogue rubbed her head.

"Ah had a game of suicide bomber and won. I think. Question, why is it every time Magneto is involved in muh abduction, something happens ta muh hair?"

* * *

The battle, such as it was, was over quickly. The jets were easily destroyed or disabled, the military personnel either killed or taken prisoner.

"I shall prepare for an address to the island," Magneto decided. "I will call for the immediate release of all mutants and the surrender of the Genoshan Government."

"Be careful how ya phrase that, sugah," Rogue said, now dressed in a spare uniform from the Black Bird. "They're capable of killing every single collared mutant in the country with the touch of a button."

"You know this for certain, Rogue?"

"Carol Danvers - Ms Marvel - managed to acquire a great deal of information. There's a system of signal towers throughout the island, which are used for commands involving mass commands. The secondary controls are used for individual instructions, the primary ones for mass instructions. Ah'm not sure where the central controls are located, but they're the ones that can effect every single collar in the country. Different colour collars are on different frequencies. Gray is the standard, blue is for collaborators and green is for test subjects. Ornamentation on the blue collars indicate rank. If Ah were ya, Ah'd either take out communications or the central controls before Ah'd start issuing ultimatums. Unless ya want another slaughter. They might decide they have nothing ta lose."

"Anything else you can tell us?"

Rogue drank some more of her water.

"Nope. Nothing ya wouldn't already know."

"And X-men, are you still intent on leaving?" Magneto asked.

"As the Professor told you," said Storm. "This was purely a rescue mission on our part. After we've brought our friends home, then and only then will we discuss joining forces with you."

"If it's all the same to you, Storm," Bobby said then. "I already know I want to come back."

"Same," Jubilee agreed. "We were only slaves for a couple of days, and well, it sucks. To put it mildly. Plus that one guy, Trans? If there are bastards like him here, they'll be all over the country. Speaking of which, does anyone know what happened to him? Okay, I know he's a teleporter and all, but...

"He was with me when Ah triggered the tamper in the collar," Rogue said. "Ah have no idea if he teleported in time."

Bobby and Gambit looked at each other.

"Uhh, I think we know what happened to him, Jubes," Bobby said.

"Definitely didn't teleport in time," Gambit added.

"He got blew up?" Jubilee asked hopefully. "Hurrah!"

"It wasn't a pretty sight."

"Even better."

"Has anyone ever told you how blood thirsty you are Jubes?"

"Only when it comes to people who try to rape me."

"He didn't get to ya, did he?" Rogue asked.

"No, he just liked to remind me that he knew I existed."

Rogue nodded slowly, closing her eyes and sighed.

"Can we go home? Ah just wanna go home."

"Of course," Storm said. "We'll just take our leave."

"What about Carol?" Gambit asked. "We taking her wit' us?"

"We'll take care of her," Magneto said. "She is one of us."

"They kept her under sedation gas," Rogue said. "But... Ah had t' absorb her too much, too often for too long. Ah have no idea how long she'll be in a coma for."

"She'll be in good hands."

Gambit snorted.

"This coming from yo'? Yo' were the one who set us up."

"If you wouldn't listen, then you needed to see. We could have set you up without telling them anything about your powers, and they would have decided to torture the information out of you. I assure you, Gambit, Rogue would have been in a far worse state if they'd known she stole _life_ and not simply powers."

"So you're saying we should be grateful that yo' sold us into slavery?"

"You were slaves for two, three _days_, Gambit. Many of these people have been slaves for two or three _years_."

* * *

After a quick meal the X-men took off in the Black Bird. Gambit was relieved to see that Rogue was starting to return to her old self after eating. Certainly she didn't sound so weary, and her temper had improved. A little.

Storm and Logan were in the pilot and co-pilot chairs at the front. Behind them, Kitty and Pete, then Bobby and Jubilee. Rogue and Gambit were sitting hand in hand on the bench at the back. There was a strained silence, the kind where there is so much to be said, but no one really knows where to start, or how to progress. The former slaves wanting everything to go back to normal, and knowing that it wouldn't. Their friends uncertain of whether they should pretend like nothing happened, or should the broach the subject of what had transpired.

It was Kitty who broke the silence first. She stood and made her way to the back where she chewed her bottom lip, took a deep breath and caught Gambit's eyes.

"Gambit - Remy, I... I wanted to apologise," Kitty said. "Y'know, for what I said at the Christmas party. I didn't mean for you to overhear, but I should never have said it in the first place. It was wrong, and I have no excuse for it."

Gambit looked at her for a long time. The Christmas party seemed so long ago now, he'd almost forgotten about it. Just as Kitty was starting to feel really uncomfortable she saw that familiar slight smirk appear on his face.

"Dat's okay, petite," he said. "And it should please yo' no end t' hear dat Rogue and I are now official, oui?"

Kitty fought really, really hard to keep her face composed.

"Oh, umm, yeah. Congratulations," she said.

Gambit's smirk grew broader. Jubilee giggled and looked at Bobby.

"You and Rogue?" Storm asked him dubiously.

"Oui."

"Is this the point where I say 'I told you so'?" Logan asked smugly.

"You should have seen them making out in the plane on the way over," Jubilee teased Kitty.

Rogue snickered as Kitty swallowed and stared making her way back to her chair.

"Yeah," Bobby grinned. "And once the locks got picked, well, lets just say there was lots and lots of skin involved."

"I don't want to know," Kitty replied. "I _really_ don't want to know."

"Lots of skin?" Gambit repeated. "Yo' saw her arms, her stomach and my upper body. I'm t'inking we have different standards on what qualifies as 'lots'?"

"Shh! Trying to freak out Kitty here."

"You suck, Bobby," Kitty glared at him.

"Oh well, in dat case," Gambit smirked. "I was on top."

"No, no, no, no, no! I did _not_ just hear you say that," Kitty said in panic, and clamped her hands over her ears. "La la la la la la."

Rogue giggled and Gambit grinned devilishly at her.

"Remy, must you?" Storm asked with a sigh.

"If I didn't say it, gossip girl or the icicle would have. Seeing as how dey were dere and all."

"Hell yes," Jubilee giggled. "And while we're still on the subject..."

"Shut up Jubes," Kitty snapped at her.

"Last night," Jubilee went on blithely, taking a great deal of pleasure out of Kitty's reactions, "when we all thought Rogue was a traitor? She had Remy escorted to her _private_ room."

Logan turned around in his seat to regard Gambit, who had this amused expression on his face.

"She had t' pass me the key somehow."

"Jubes would you stop telling me this stuff? I really, really, really don't want to know," Kitty said. "Ignorance is bliss and all that."

"And with the collars on, no powers," Bobby added gleefully. "So they could have done _anything_ in there, Kitty. All. Night. Long."

Rogue looked at Gambit and rolled her eyes. Gambit snickered.

"Pete, save me, please?" Kitty pleaded.

Pete, trying to stifle his own laughter, patted Kitty consolingly on the back.

"Maybe we should have brought one of those collars with us," Bobby went on.

"Why?" Rogue demanded.

"Y'know, so you and Remy could still -"

"Forget it, Iceboy," Rogue snapped. "Those things were designed for the sole purpose of enslaving mutants, not helping them. And what's more if you thought the pain settin' on your collar was bad, ya have no freaking idea whatsoever the agonising torment that comes with the level twos. It hurt like _hell_ and that's an understatement. Ah wanted ta curl up in a corner and die, except, y'know, invulnerable, so Ah had to deal with it for an eternity. Ah blatantly refuse to wear one _ever_ again, under _any_ circumstances. Not even a modified one. Got it?"

"I humbly retract the suggestion," Bobby replied, suitably admonished, his hands up in the air in the surrender position.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"The Firecracker filled us in about you 'turning traitor' so you could get the collar key and pass it on," Logan said after a time. "Good thinking."

"Aww, Ah can't take the credit for that," Rogue dismissed. "It was Remy's plan."

"But yo' were the one who carried it out, chére."

"It was?" Jubilee asked.

"What? Why else do ya think he deliberately got me ta absorb him?" Rogue grinned. "He was passin' on his diabolical evil scheme in such a way no one could overhear."

"I would have done it myself, but it was more believable coming from Rogue," Gambit shrugged. "Especially after dat particular demonstration, no? Besides, can yo' imagine the reaction I would have gotten from Rogue if she thought I'd turned traitor and had _her_ summoned t' _my_ room?"

Rogue giggled.

"Yeah, Ah may have had a few choice words ta say ta ya."

"And it not like I could have confessed the truth with the place being spied on either."

"It sure would have been an interestin' night though."

"Interesting, she says. I t'ink I prefer t'ings the way dey happened, no?"

Rogue chuckled.

"Besides, do ya really think Ah would come up with an escape plan that involves me trickin' muh friends inta thinkin' I betrayed them?" she asked.

"You raise a good point," Bobby nodded. "Although, for the record, I would just like to say that I didn't believe it for a second. So ha!"

"I did though," Jubilee admitted ruefully. "Sorry about that Rogue."

"Why? It was the whole idea."

"Yeah, but y'know, I should have known that you would never betray us just so you could have sex."

"How do ya know that? Maybe Ah've fooled ya again," Rogue paused and narrowed her eyes at Gambit. "That sounds suspiciously like something you would say."

"Side effect o' absorbing me?"

"Great that's all we need. Two people with his dirty mind," Storm sighed.

Gambit chuckled.

"Speakin' of absorbin' ya," Rogue went on. "You and me are gonna have a little chat about some of those things I saw in your head. Ah mean, most of it's been overshadowed by absorbin' Ms Marvel so many times, but that's hardly the point."

"Ahh... yes, well..." Gambit stammered. "I apologise in advance for any nightmares I may cause yo' chére."

"By the way, that confrontation with Kate the other day makes so much more sense now."

"Mon dieu," Gambit groaned as he buried his face in his free hand.

"Oh, Logan! Ah saw your first meetin' with Remy too," Rogue grinned. "It was so cute."

"Cute?" Logan and Gambit said together.

"Yeah? What happened?" asked Pete curiously.

"Oh, well, Remy was playin' poker - like we'd expect anything less - and Logan came up ta him and asked him if he was Remy LeBeau. And Remy said 'Do I owe you money?'," Rogue giggled.

"What can I say? I owed a few different people money in dose days," Gambit shrugged. "Chére, do we really have t' have this discussion right now?"

"Ha, now you know how I feel," Bobby said jubilantly.

"Sorry Remy. And Bobby? I wouldn't talk about anythin' that Ah've absorbed from ya if ya didn't irritate me," Rogue dismissed.

"Oh so I _do_ irritate you, do I? Excellent! I shall file this away for future reference."

"Maybe next time we're in the danger room Ah'll absorb ya again and get an update."

"Will it involve kissing?"

"Now, now, that would be tellin'."

"Because I don't think Remy would approve of you kissing other men."

"That's okay, you're not a man."

"Hey!"

She snickered.

"Ah think Ah'm going ta haveta start wearin' a beanie or somethin' until muh hair grows back," Rogue mused, running her hand over her bare head.

"Oooh! We can go cute hat shopping!" Kitty beamed.

"Or maybe a wig," Jubilee suggested. "I bet you'll make a good blonde. Or maybe a red head. Yeah red'll look good with those green eyes of yours. What do you think Remy?"

"Hmm, anyt'ing wit' a white streak in it."

Rogue turned her head to appraise him with a cynical grin.

"Ya just want ta legitimately call me skunkhead again, dontcha?"

"Oui."

"Swamp rat."

"River rat."

"Snake charmer."

"Scamp."

"Scoundrel."

"Baldy."

"Hey! Don't call me that."

"Why not, chére? Yo' don't even have any eyebrows or eyelashes."

"That's no reason ta make fun."

"It's every reason."

"Is not, ya two-bit, low-life -"

Gambit put his hands on her pants and charged them up.

"Yo' were saying?"

Rogue looked down at the light magenta glow, then looked up at him again, her eyes glinting with mischief.

"Go on. Ah dare ya."

"Oh, what?" Jubilee exclaimed. "Rogue, haven't you have enough clothes blown off you today?"

"Gambit, what is this obsession you have with charging Rogue's clothes?" Kitty demanded.

"By the way," Rogue added. "Ah couldn't find any spare underwear."

"Rogue, stop encouraging him," Storm said tersely.

Rogue giggled.

"Ooooh, do it! Do it!" Bobby cheered.

"Bobby!" Kitty objected.

"What? Pete, you agree? Nice view and all that?"

"Pete," Kitty frowned at him.

"Uhh, I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it may incriminate me," Pete joked.

"Y'know chére, had you said that t' me before you absorbed Carol, yo' would have called my bluff, seeing as how I wouldn't want t' hurt dose pretty legs o' yours. But you're invulnerable now so..." Gambit grinned at her.

"Gumbo, do not blow up any of Rogue's clothes in the Blackbird," Logan said as he lit his cigar. "You might ruin the upholstery."


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Rogue yawned as she entered her bedroom and gave Gambit a perplexed look, seeing him lying on an air mattress wearing his usual bedroom attire. Well, she could only assume it was the usual bedroom attire as the lower half was covered up by the bed clothes, but this was Gambit she was dealing with here. It was freezing outside, so clearly the man was insane, even with the good central heating the mansion had.

"Not that Ah'm complainin' by any means," she said as she retrieved a pair of socks. "But wouldn't ya be more comfortable in your own bed?"

"Probably, but I wanted t' be here in case yo' had a nightmare. Cute pajamas."

A smile crossed Rogue's face and she giggled a little.

"Well, Ah, that's very sweet of ya, but ya don't need ta."

Gambit shrugged.

"I know. But yo' didn't deliberately try t' absorb me - I chose t' make yo' absorb me."

"You were tryin' ta -"

"And I know I have some pretty big nightmare level memories in here," Gambit cut in, tapping his head. "I just feel like I should be here. Just in case."

Rogue was silent for a moment, then laid down on her bed and looked at him as she pulled on the pair of gloves she kept by her bedside.

"Carol overshadowed most of the stuff Ah got from ya before Ah could really sort things out," she said. "Ah think were Ah ta get any nightmares tonight, she'd be responsible. Or, maybe Ah'll have a legitimate nightmare about that collar."

"Not the point."

She nodded slowly.

"Okay," she conceded. "Maybe then... Ah could ask ya about the thing with the bodies in the sewers?"

Gambit looked away and closed his eyes briefly.

"The Morlock Massacre. I'm so sorry yo' had t' see dat, chérie."

Rogue said nothing, only waited.

"It... I..." he stopped, took a breath and continued: "I had trouble controlling my powers. Everyt'ing I charged, I charged too much. We're talking entire building demolishing level here. I was a danger t' myself and everyone around me, so I went t' get help. His name was Nathaniel Essex, or Mister Sinister, which, if yo' ask me, is a much more appropriate name fo' him. He gave me brain surgery and in return I put together his band of Marauders. Once the gang was t'gether, his final task t' me was t' lead them down int' the sewers where the Morlocks lived undetected. I had no idea, Rogue. I had no idea what he'd ordered them t' do."

"They slaughtered them."

"And I helped them t' do it."

Rogue frowned, then levitated above the bed (just because she could) and moved so she was floating above him. She reached down and touched his stomach,

"Those scars say otherwise," she said softly.

She traced her fingers over the now faint white lines. She had a vague recollection of Sabretooth attacking her - no not her, him. The scars matched where Sabretooth's overgrown fingernails would have pierced the skin.

"I lead dem dere."

"Ya tried ta stop them once ya knew."

"It was the least I could have done t' make up fo' sending all those kids t' their deaths."

Rogue lifted her hand from his stomach and cupped his face instead, forcing him to look at her.

"Tell me Remy, if ya hadn't been involved, would Sinister still have arranged the massacre?"

Gambit's lips tightened.

"Lucky for you, Carol's good at being objective," Rogue said softly. "Ah'd hate ta think what muh reaction would have been like without her fresh, annoyingly loud voice in there to counteract your psyche's feelin's about it."

"Sorry about that too."

"Stop apologisin'. It was a good plan. It worked. It got us outta there."

"Rogue -"

"If Ah have t' kiss ya t' shut ya up, Ah will."

Gambit stared at her, then cracked a smile.

"Ahh, chérie, I have no idea what I did t' deserve yo', but I'd do it again."

"What? A girlfriend ya can't touch? Personally, Ah've been wonderin' how it is Ah manage ta attract any boyfriends at all."

"Lure o' the forbidden? We always want what we can't get?"

"Am Ah a challenge ta ya then?"

Gambit lifted his hands and took hers.

"I t'ink dat _keepin'_ yo' is going t' be my greatest challenge, chére. And I'm t'inking now dere may even be hope, seeing as how you've got my mind inside your head and yo' haven't run away screaming."

"Yeah, well, Ah'm wonderin' how long it'll take before ya get frustrated with not being able ta touch me and leave."

"I'm touching yo' right now."

"Ya know what Ah mean."

Gambit shrugged.

"So we've encountered a lava pit in our adventure. We'll figure out how t' cross it."

"A lava pit? Ya comparin' muh mutation to a lava pit?"

"It doesn't have t' be a lava pit. Mebbe it's a deep gorge, or a wall o' fire, or a steep mountain or a... I don't know, ghost ridden woods?"

Rogue giggled.

"Quicksand?"

"Tar field?"

"Barren wasteland?"

"Desert?"

"Valley of the Damned."

"Well, dat sounds a little harsh."

"Accurate though."

"Dat's a matter o' opinion, chérie."

"Sure it is. The Valley part is muh skin, and the Damned are all muh psyches."

Gambit chuckled and Rogue grinned at him.

"Yo' are an amazing, strong, determined woman, chére. I've no doubt you'll get your powers under control."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"And in the meantime, dere's always over-the-clothes groping."

"Yeah, that sounds alluring," Rogue said cynically.

"It is when I'm involved."

"Ya sound very sure of yourself."

Gambit chuckled and deciding he wasn't too worn out from the events of the day for a small demonstration, hooked his hands around her and pulled her down closer. He kept his right arm around her while his left cupped her breast.

"I was going t' show yo' later, but since it came up," he said as he charged the part of her pajama top directly touching his hand.

"Ah think Kitty may be right about ya havin' an obsession with chargin' muh clothes, Remy."

"Non, dis is only a light charge. Feel dat tingling sensation?"

"Ah'm rather familiar with it by now."

Gambti grinned at her and increased the charge significantly. Rogue drew in her breath sharply.

"The higher the charge, the more intense it gets chérie. Try not to jerk away; yo' might be invulnerable now, but I'm not, and neither is the mansion."

"What kind of explosion are we looking at here?"

"Dat's only a medium level charge so... probably everyt'ing from here t' Bobby's room," Gambit considered as he removed the charge.

"That's _medium_? Ah'd don't know if Ah want ta know what high feels like," Rogue commented as she floated back to her bed.

Gambit chuckled.

"I wouldn't try high on yo'," he replied. "Least, not yet, chére. You're a little too new at dis."

"Wait... so you've done high on someone before?"

"Yo' won't believe the reaction it gets."

"Ah'm afraid," Rogue said as she took her gloves off and put them back on the beside table

"Dat's not what yo' should be afraid o'."

"No, what Ah should be afraid of is blowin' up the mansion every time we make out."

"Especially as I don't limit myself to one charge at a time," Gambit said, grinning at her.

"Two?"

"My power isn't limited to my _hands_, chérie. There'll be at least three or four."

Rogue laughed and half-buried her head under her pillow.

"Actually, dis should be an interesting experiment," he mused. "I wonder if I can maintain six medium level charges at once."

"Six? What are the other two?"

"Your gloves."

"Ooh."

"Why should yo' have all the fun?"

"Why indeed," Rogue snickered. "And for that matter, why am Ah not surprised ya found a way ta use your powers in the bedroom?"

"What can I say? I'm very creative."

Rogue giggled as she hit the light on her bedside table, turning it off. She yawned.

"Remy?"

"Oui?"

"After all that... Ah don't think Ah'm going ta have ta worry about havin' _nightmares_ tonight."

* * *

**End!**

I hope you've all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I _really_ enjoyed writing it, hahaha.

A special thanks to everyone who took the time to review. You guys are awesome, and your feedback meant a great deal to me. And it also had the added bonus of actually improving the story because some of your comments revealed things I needed to amend/add/clarify, for which I am grateful.

For those of you who have expressed an interest in a third instalment, I draw your attention to **I Mock Your Shiny Toothpicks**, now up.


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